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Bonnard was twenty-six when he met Marthe who became his model and then his wife. Whatever the technique, in painting as in drawing, it will remain his favorite subject all his life. At his toilet, in the garden or in his home, he likes to represent her in his daily life, such as during this meal scene executed in black stone where Marthe is sitting at the table, her cat at her side.
This drawing is preparatory to the painting The Woman with the Cat from 1912, preserved in the Orsay Museum.

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Bonnard is twenty-six years old when he meets Marthe, who becomes his model, and then his wife. Whatever the subject or the technique, painting or drawing, she will remain his favourite subject throughout his life: at her toilette, in the garden or in her interior. Here, hedraws her with lead pencil, sitting at the table at meal time, with her cat next to her.
This is in preparation for the painting La Femme au Chat in 1912, currently held at the Orsay Museum.

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