The French photographer, Brassaï, in his book The Artists of My Life, recounts his visit to the painter at Le Cannet in August 1946: I looked around for his easel, his palette. There were none. Nailed side by side onto the wall were several unstretched canvases on all of which, to my astonishment, Bonnard was working at the same time. Once he had collected a touch of laque de garance, or cadmium yellow, with his nervous, deft fingers, he would then examine each canvas to find the one and only place to put it. In this way, he could nourish several canvases at once until they all came to life. Treated as a group, these canvases were all but separate objects unto themselves during the creative process. They established a dialogue with each other, regardless of their varied figurative content. Bonnard offered the following explanation for his use of free canvas: I like to work on an unstretched canvas that is larger than the intended picture. This gives me room for alteration. ©1998 The Museum of Modern Art, New York