‘Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi’ is the latest blockbuster exhibition at Melbourne’s NGV, and creates an unlikely pairing between the French post-impressionist painter and the Tehran-born architect and designer – and winner of Designer of the Year at the 2023 Wallpaper* Design Awards.
Presented in collaboration with Musée d'Orsay, NGV’s exhibition features more than 100 works by Pierre Bonnard that illustrate late-19th and early-20th-century France, among them paintings, drawings, prints, photographs and decorative objects. However, it is arguably Mahdavi’s captivating scenography that steals the show.
Mahdavi explodes details from Bonnard’s works and recreates his iridescent palette as psychedelic wallpapers, creating an immersive environment within which to introduce Bonnard to a new generation. Mahdavi has also incorporated other domestic details into the exhibition design to evoke the wistful domestic intimacy for which Bonnard is renowned, such as window openings that frame the view into adjacent galleries and bespoke furniture for lounging.
The exhibition also features early cinema by the Lumière brothers, and artworks by Bonnard’s contemporaries, including Maurice Denis, Félix Vallotton and Édouard Vuillard.
‘Pierre Bonnard: Designed by India Mahdavi ’is on view until 8 October 2023
National Gallery of Victoria - NGV
180 St Kilda Road
Melbourne
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