Pierre Bonnard Value: Top Prices Paid at Auction

La Terrasse (1912) achieved Bonnard's current auction record when it sold at Christie's New York in May 2019, significantly exceeding its high estimate of $5 million. This work exemplifies Bonnard's mastery of colour and composition during his most sought-after period. Painted at the Villa Joséphine in Grasse, where Bonnard stayed with his patrons Henry and Lily Kapferer, the composition creates a sense of depth through carefully planned green and pink hues that draw the viewer into the sunlit terrace scene. The painting derives its alternative title from its subject: Une Terrasse À Grasse. The painting's complex spatial arrangement demonstrates Bonnard's innovative approach to perspective, with the composition divided into distinct yet harmonious zones. Rather than following traditional perspective rules, Bonnard created an emotional landscape where colour relationships took precedence over realism. This work is particularly significant as it captures his transition toward the more vibrant palette that would characterise his later career, influenced by the Mediterranean light of southern France. Its exceptional provenance, including time in the collection of noted American art patrons Josse and Gaston Bernheim-Jeune, undoubtedly contributed to its record-breaking performance.

Another of Bonnard’s famous terrace paintings, Terrasse À Vernon (1923), sold at Christie's London in February 2011. It is a classic example of the artist’s mature style, developed during his years at his house, Ma Roulotte, in Vernon, Normandy - when Bonnard was painting from memory rather than direct observation. Unlike the Impressionists who preceded him, Bonnard would make small sketches on site, then develop his compositions in the studio, allowing colour and emotional response to dictate the final artwork. The composition features the characteristic elevated viewpoint Bonnard often employed, creating a sense of looking out over a verdant garden. This aerial perspective creates a dreamlike quality, taking the viewer out of their body and allowing them to be purely an observer. Bonnard’s Vernon works are particularly prized by collectors for their distilled Post-Impressionist style, but also their personal connection to the artist.

This intimate interior scene achieved this impressive result at Sotheby's London in June 2010. The painting demonstrates Bonnard's fascination with the play of light in domestic spaces, featuring subtle yellow and orange tones that create a sense of warmth emanating from the radiator referenced in the title. The warmth manifests as light, both the physical heat and the emotional warmth of ‘home.’ Created during a period when Bonnard was splitting his time between his homes in Vernon and Le Cannet, this work shows his evolving approach to interior spaces as vehicles for exploring colour relationships. The radiator itself becomes a central compositional element, reflecting Bonnard's interest in the mundane objects that shape daily existence - an interest that set him apart from his contemporaries, many of whom embraced more radical forms of abstraction.

Exceeding its estimate by over $2 million at Christie's New York in November 2022, when it sold out of the Paul G. Allen Collection, this still life represents a genre Bonnard revisited throughout his career, though less frequently than his interiors and landscapes. It was created during his later years in Le Cannet, and represents a lifetime’s exploration of colour theory, culminating in a tendency towards more saturated colour. His approach to still life differed significantly from traditional representations, such as the work of Chardin, focusing less on precise rendering and more on capturing texture and sensory elements. To achieve this, Bonnard used a rich impasto and complex surface finish. The piece had previously sold in 2006 for £4 million. Its successful resale in 2022, alongside works by Picasso, David Hockney, and Georges Seurat, highlights the continuing strength of Bonnard’s market as one of history’s most highly respected artists.

This significant work sold at Christie's London in November 1988, establishing a record that held for 22 years until Le Petit Déjeuner, Radiateur (c.1930) sold in 2010. The painting depicts Bonnard's dining room at his house in Vernon, with a female figure (likely his wife Marthe) clearing a table after a meal. It celebrates the rituals of domestic life, capturing peace and contemplation in the small, repetitive routines of the everyday, and for a significant reason. Bonnard’s appreciation of the domestic had, at the time, been renewed following his 1925 marriage to Marthe after living together for 30 years. The work's enormous success at auction, despite being sold during a more conservative market period, underscores the value found in these personal stories.

This aptly-named interior scene of Bonnard's Paris apartment, painted in 1914, sold at Christie's New York in May 2018, after 58 years in the Rockefeller Collection. The intimate scene offers viewers a glimpse into the artist's personal space, at a time when Bonnard was moving between residences - as such, his emotional connection to his different spaces was more nuanced than ever. The painting's rich colouration and sophisticated spatial organisation demonstrate his technical skill while maintaining the sense of lived experience that characterises his most successful works. The sophisticated handling of perspective, with its slightly elevated viewpoint, creates a sense of voyeuristic intimacy that became a hallmark of Bonnard's interior scenes. Its strong performance at auction reflects growing collector appreciation for his Paris-period interiors, which showcase his emerging use of colour as a structural element.

This standing nude achieved this result at Sotheby's London in June 2012, representing a significant departure from Bonnard's more familiar bathing scenes. Marthe Bonnard was known for her compulsion to bathe incredibly regularly, which became a frequent subject for Bonnard’s paintings; this unusual vertical composition, however, presents a more vulnerable and direct representation of the human form. The elongated figure stands awkwardly between textured and patterned soft furnishings, creating a visual contrast that distinguishes it from classical nude traditions. What makes this work particularly notable among Bonnard's figure studies is its compositional boldness - the figure dominates the vertical canvas with minimal environmental context, unlike his typically more narrative domestic scenes. It does, however, provide an almost unparalleled example of Bonnard’s treatment of light on skin, with subtle tonal variations creating volume, softness, and presence.

This 1932 masterclass in light and shadow sold at Sotheby's London in February 2003, representing Bonnard's fascination with threshold spaces and transitional light. The work's French title - translating to "The French Window - Morning at Le Cannet" - emphasises the specific architectural feature that fascinated Bonnard: the door-window that serves as both entrance and viewpoint. The seated figure, likely Marthe, appears absorbed in private thought while bathed in directional light, creating a mood of quiet contemplation. Artist, writer, and curator Timothy Hyman identified this particular work as exemplifying Bonnard's "metaphysics of light," where ordinary domestic moments are transformed into profound meditations on perception itself. Rather than simply recording a human scene, Bonnard captures the phenomenological experience of morning light penetrating interior space. This painting was also created using Bonnard’s unique technique of working on unstretched canvas tacked to the wall, which allowed him to build up complex surfaces through multiple layers applied over extended periods - sometimes years. The market has increasingly recognised these ambiguous boundary, door-window compositions as among his most philosophically rich works.

Place Clichy (1906-07), portraying the iconic Parisian junction in Montmartre that served as a hub for artists, sold at Sotheby's London in June 2006. Unlike his contemporaries who painted similar locations, Bonnard's interpretation is distinguished by its atmospheric approach to crowd movement and urban anonymity, capturing the psychological experience of city life rather than topographical specificity. The painting's unusual compositional structure - with its compressed foreground and muted palette - reveals Bonnard's early experimentation with flattened picture planes that would later evolve into his more radical spatial arrangements. It mirrors the oblique perspective, asymmetrical framing, and crowd-handling of Hiroshige’s ukiyo-e prints, which inspired Bonnard’s work.

Completing our list, Compotiers Et Assiettes De Fruits (c.1930), sold at Christie's New York in November 2005. This vibrant still life combines multiple bowls, plates, and glasses in a combination that balances negative space and abundance. The white tablecloth - a recurring motif in Bonnard’s work - allowed the artist to explore subtle tonal, luminous surfaces by layering white paint on top of colour. Artist and professor Jack Flam noted that Bonnard's still lifes from this period reveal his "profound understanding of how objects embody light," treating humble fruits and tableware as vehicles for capturing and reflecting light. The painting was created when Bonnard was in his early sixties, after 40 years of steady success as an artist. In 1930, Bonnard’s first solo museum exhibition was held at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., but he had been exhibiting and selling his work since before 1890. Bonnard’s enduring success and popularity owes to his forward-thinking approach to colour relationships, the everyday, and how people react to the objects and places in their lives.