Woman in the Garden by Bonnard, each 160×48 cm, 1891, held in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris
In Bed by Valloton, 1891, held in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris

Prayer by Denis, 150×165 cm, 1907, held in the collection of the Musée d'Orsay, Paris. "Nabis" is Hebrew for "prophets," a name bestowed by the poet Cazalis in 1888 upon a group of painters. Members included Bonnard, Denis, Vuillard, Valloton, and Serusier. They believed that pure color equaled light and served as an expression of spiritual joy, influenced deeply by Gauguin's Synthetism and Japanese woodblock prints. They understood all art as a transformation, akin to a receptive sense, and recognized objective deformation based on purely aesthetic and decorative concepts. This distinctive coloring technique and objective deformation entered the artist's personal expression. The characteristics of Nabis painting are anecdotal, decorative, flat, and patterned, approaching Art Nouveau.