October 3, 1867

Artdaily says that Pierre Bonnard (October 3, 1867 to January 23, 1947) is "one of the defining figures of modernism in the transitional period between impressionism and abstraction."

Born just outside of Paris in 1867, Pierre Bonnard ... was the son of a high-ranking bureaucrat in the French War Ministry. In 1887 he enrolled in classes at the Académie Julian in Paris, where he became a student and follower of Paul Gauguin. Gauguin’s teaching inspired a group of young painters known as Les Nabis (after the Hebrew words navi or nabi, meaning prophet), with whom Bonnard joined. By the early years of the 20th century, the Nabis had disbanded, and for the remainder of his career, Bonnard resisted affiliation with any particular school. Instead, he alternated between the themes and techniques of the Impressionists and the abstract visual modes of modernism.

Bonnard painted lots of cats. La femme au chat is dated to 1912, although this artist was known for his habit of returning to canvases to change details.

There are other paintings of his to see here.