Nude in the Bath, Pierre Bonnard (1936-8)

finding space for reflection

Everyday we are pressured to consume seemingly endless amounts of news, books, music, and experiences. Yet experts on learning confirm that the consumption of new material will not lead to deeper knowledge without an act of digesting the information in real time. Therefore, we must balance new experience with equal parts reflection, to understand how it makes us feel and how it relates to our life. Without this crucial step, we are unlikely to retain anything at all from those precious moments.

Pierre Bonnard painted a series of portraits of his wife reclining in a bath tub. She believed bathing was a “form of therapy” and for her it became practically a compulsion. In the version titled Nude in the Bath, light floods over the walls and floors, transforming the room into a sparkling Byzantine-like mosaic. We can feel the warmth of the water, the heat penetrating the body and relaxing the muscles. Despite the use of bold colours, the image radiates calm and stillness.

Bonnard would work on numerous paintings at once, tacking them to the walls of his studio. This process allowed him to sit back and consider them in broader terms. At this distance, and by comparing them, he could better understand their dimension. Put another way, their impact, their relevance, and their meaning could be better understood the further he got from them.

Applying this method to our own lives, we should allow for space ”in between”, letting our previous experience linger in the air, in our mind, on our skin. This is time for the Hum of your unconscious to break events into digestible fragments, selecting with discernment what to absorb and what is better released down the drain.