In Paris for my birthday, went to see sizeable Pierre Bonnard exhibition at Musée D’Orsay. I’ve always liked his work very much but had never seen more than single paintings in different collections.

I hadn’t really realised the influence of Gauguin – though it is now more obvious – and also Japanese influences, devloping a decorative style.

Bonnard loved to paint women bathing, but for me it is his interiors which look out onto the external world that I think are his finest and that I love the most. There is often a figure in the room, who sometimes seems to be incidentally present, then through a door or window, to the garden or world beyond. This provides great opportunities for colour and light which he exploits brilliantly.

He mostly uses very small brush strokes to create the almost psychedelic brilliance of colour though I felt that the in some of the works the paint had not really survived that well.

Worth visiting if you’re in Paris.