In 1904 Pierre Bonnard also discovered the Midi during a visit to Saint-Tropez, where his friends Edouard Vuillard and Ker-Xavier Roussel were staying. He met with Valtat and Signac, who also received Matisse and Derain that same year, both on their way to fauvism. At the invitation of Manguin, he returned there for a longer stay in the summer of 1909, which enabled him to paint several canvases. Until 1914 he kept alternating between Paris, Normandy and the Midi.

In the Midi, Bonnard discovered a light and vegetation unknown to him. The colour of the eucalyptus, olive trees, almond trees and mimosas reveals itself in the Mediterranean light. The painter was immediately touched. He wrote to his mother the following phrase that was to become famous: "I had a thousand and one nights' shot. The sea, the yellow walls, the reflections as colourful as the lights..."

1922 was the year of his encounter with Le Cannet. Completely won over by this haven of peace that answered to both the health requirements of his wife Marthe, and his quest for tranquillity, nature and heights, Bonnard came there to spend every winter in various houses he had rented: "Maison Blanche" (White House), "L'Hirondelle" (The Swallow), "Le Rêve" (The Dream). In 1926 he bought a modest looking house on avenue Victoria, which he christened "Le Bosquet". Bonnard was by then very well known and had the means to buy a much larger and more comfortable house, with an easier access. But it was the quiet tranquillity of the site that captivated him, as well as the view over the Cannes bay and the Esterel massif. He transformed all the house's openings so that nature would be visible from any one point inside the house.

He settled there in 1927, after having carried out a few modifications on the house. The house's only luxury was a bathtub, which he had installed at his wife's insistence. Pierre Bonnard did not immediately settle permanently at Le Bosquet; his vagabond spirit kept him constantly on the road between Paris, Vernonnet and Le Cannet. The proximity of his friend Matisse who was staying in Nice and the presence of Lebasque in Le Cannet enabled him to engage in regular social and artistic interaction. During all these years his presence in Le Cannet remained very discreet. He took little part in town life, but accepted to participate in the 1st Le Cannet artists' salon with Henri Lebasque in 1935. He created a landscape painting for the occasion.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Pierre Bonnard retired for good to Le Bosquet. There he lived a solitary life, entertained only by a select circle of artists who came to visit him. It is in what his friend Matisse called this "charming dovecot" that Bonnard passed away on the 23rd of January 1947. He was buried in the Notre-Dame des Anges cemetery, next to his wife who had passed away in 1942.

Upon the death of Pierre Bonnard began a legal battle over his legacy that would last over 20 years. The house that was left abandoned for many years was auctioned and finally became the property of Charles Terrasse, the painter's nephew. Pierre Bonnard's house was registered on the French Supplementary Historic Monument List in 1975. In 2007 the house and its garden were also listed.

Thanks to Dominique Terrasse, the painter's presence in this pink-walled house has been perfectly preserved.