Matisse's Woman with Violin arrives at Brera in dialogue with Bonnard

The Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan presents a dialogue between Henri Matisse's "Femme au violon" (1920s, from the Musée de l'Orangerie, Paris) and Pierre Bonnard's "Ritratto di Marta" (portraying his wife Marta Malini). Curated by director James Bradburne, this is the second modern art dialogue after Osvaldo Licini in 2022, ahead of the upcoming opening of Palazzo Citterio. The exhibition explores the artists' shared passion for vibrant color and Provençal light, despite their different movements (Fauvism for Matisse, Nabis for Bonnard). Matisse's canvas features an unidentified model with a violin in a domestic interior, marked by flat, almost monochrome color fields. Bonnard's work shows Marta in a café, with vibrant, small brushstrokes reminiscent of Renoir, capturing a mystical, esoteric everydayness.