The Bath (Baignoire, Le Bain) (1925)

Pierre Bonnard

oil on canvas

Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives

Photo credit: Tate

Classification:

Painting

Materials:

Oil, Canvas

Dimensions:

86 x 120.6 (without frame) cm

Accession Number:

N04495

Credit:

Presented by the Contemporary Art Society, 1931

Scheme:

Gift

Ownership history:

Purchased from the artist by Bernheim-Jeune, Paris, 7 December 1925; bought (?from the Independent Gallery) by Lord Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill (1898 - 1956) by whom gifted to the Contemporary Art Society, 1931; presented to Tate, 1931

Relationship:

Bernheim-Jeune, Paris Independent Gallery, London Percy Moore Turner Tate, London, Liverpool and St Ives Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill

Subject:

Nudes

Bonnard painted many pictures of women bathing. Although she looks young, it is most likely this is of his wife Marthe, who was in her mid-fifties in 1925. It was purchased from the artist by the dealer Bernheim-Jeune in Paris on 7 December 1925 and subsequently bought by Lord Ivor Charles Spencer-Churchill (1898-1956) probably from his friend Percy Moore Turner (1877-1950) of the Independent Gallery, London. He gifted it to the Contemporary Art Society in 1931 - along with The Window (La Fenêtre), also by Bonnard - who presented it to the Tate in the same year. Spencer-Churchill was a Committee Member (1927-49) of the Contemporary Art Society (1927-49) and its Hon. Secretary (1926-38) donating 21 pictures, and buying 14 artworks, as a CAS elected buyer, to present to UK museums.

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