The Blue Balcony
- Artist: Pierre Bonnard
- Date: 1910
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Museum: The Courtauld Gallery
- Collection record: The Courtauld Gallery website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is “The Blue Balcony” by Pierre Bonnard. Painted in 1910 with oil on canvas, it offers a glimpse into the artist’s own home at Vernonnet in Normandy—he dubbed it “ma roulotte”, or “my caravan.” The canvas captures a moment where the orderly lines of the building and a straight path confront the freer, untamed garden that surrounds it. Bonnard loved letting his plants grow without constraint, a sentiment echoed by a friend who noted he “did all kinds of gardening except restricting the growth of plants and restraining the flowers.” That philosophy shows in the painting’s mix of structured architecture and wild flora. Early in his career, this work foreshadowed a theme he would revisit throughout his life—the dialogue between domestic space and nature. The subtle play of light on the stone and the sky gives the scene a quiet immediacy, inviting viewers to imagine the sounds of the garden, the rustle of leaves, and the quiet rhythm of a home that feels like a moving caravan.
See it in person
The Blue Balcony hangs in The Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
