Architect India Mahdavi has designed the colourful homelike sets for NGV Melbourne’s blockbuster new show on French Impressionist painter Pierre Bonnard.

More than 100 works by Bonnard are on display at the exhibition, which spans paintings, screens, drawings, photographs and cinema. These come together to tell the story of Bonnard’s career as well as Les Nabis – a circle of artists Bonnard was a part of that explored art’s role across various aspects of modern life.

Mahdavi has exploded details from his works, placing them on huge abstract shapes, applying them to wallpaper and furniture, and creating a three-dimensional set design that feels like stepping into a home created by Bonnard.

She’s also used expanses of colour drawn directly from the artist’s work – colour which was directly inspired by the French landscape. ‘Certainly colour had carried me away,’ said Bonnard in 1913. ‘I sacrificed form to it almost unconsciously.’

Bonnard designed by India Mahdavi is on display until 8 October 2023 at NGV Melbourne.

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