L INDOLENTE

L INDOLENTE
L INDOLENTE
Parution : 
31/08/2016
Collection : 
La Bleue
THE INDOLENT WOMAN
Françoise Cloarec
 
Who is Marthe Bonnard?
A woman who both reveals and conceals herself. Forever young, often naked, we see her in the paintings of the world’s finest museums, and yet she remains a mystery. She is concealed by the light of the painter Pierre Bonnard, with whom she shared her life between 1893 and 1942.

During this period, the couple experienced joys and dramas, travelled often, when her fragile health permitted it, and formed friendships in the art world: Vuillard, Lautrec, Vollard, Vallotton, Monet, Renoir, Signac, Matisse, Maeght, Cartier-Bresson, Brassaï… Bonnard married Marthe in 1925. She knew that Bonnard’s painting was his true mistress. They didn’t have any children together, but instead produced a great body of work.

The “painter of happiness” was also intimate with melancholy, anxiety and loss. He disguised his ghosts and those of his wife behind colour, beauty and tranquillity. When Pierre died, five years after her death, their love story sparked a far-reaching legal battle. The woman who had always claimed to be an orphan, under the name Marthe de Méligny, was revealed as Maria Boursin, and had a family. Four nieces turned up one day and claimed their share of the inheritance. The trial denied the world access to Bonnard’s collected works for more than fifteen years. It led to a jurisprudence of artists’ moral rights.
 
Françoise Cloarec is a painter and graduate of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Amongst other titles, she wrote Séraphine, which inspired the Martin Provost film that won seven Césars and  starred Yolande Moreau. Her writing sheds light on people who rarely get attention, such as the story about a Eurasian woman in De père légalement inconnu. She has also written about Syria, as well as other places as in, for example, L’Âme du savon d’Alep.
Qui est Marthe Bonnard ?
Toujours jeune, souvent nue, on la voit sur les toiles des plus beaux musées du monde, pourtant elle reste mystérieuse. Elle se dissimule dans la lumière du peintre Pierre Bonnard, avec qui elle partage sa vie entre 1893 et 1942. Durant cette période, le couple voyage beaucoup, au rythme de la santé fragile de Marthe, et noue des amitiés dans le monde de l’art – Monet, Vuillard, Signac, Matisse...
Derrière les couleurs, le « peintre du bonheur » cache ses fantômes et ceux de sa femme. Ensemble ils n’auront pas d’enfant, mais ils feront une oeuvre.
À la mort de Pierre, veuf depuis cinq ans, leur histoire d’amour déclenchera une affaire judiciaire retentissante, émaillée de divers rebondissements. Car l’orpheline qui se disait être Marthe de Méligny avait une famille et un autre nom.
352 pages
Format :
138 x 216 mm
EAN : 
9782234080980
Prix : 
25.00 €

L'auteur

Françoise Cloarec

Cloarec
Françoise Cloarec est peintre, psychanalyste et écrivain. Elle est notamment l’auteur de Séraphine. La vie rêvée de Séraphine de Senlis, De père légalement inconnu, L’Âme du savon d’Alep...

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