There is a stunning exhibition of paintings by Pierre Bonnard at the National Museum in Stockholm (until 15th May) which also underlines the immense influence he had on Nordic painters. This was due to a major exhibition in 1939 in Oslo, Gothenburg and Stockholm, the largest to date to be held outside France. The current exhibition is a chance to revisit his colourful, 'shimmering', domestic yet ambiguous images, including this gentle scene, Sous l'arbre (1915, private collection).

Since the second half of the twentieth century, dressers - now often stripped and painted - have moved back into kitchens, where they always used to be, because they are so useful for storage and access, as well as display. Many Landmark Trust properties have a kitchen dresser stacked with the familiar Old Chelsea china; this is Dunshay Manor in Dorset.

Birthday Party (1936, Beverley Art Gallery) by Fred Elwell, with its grand, dark dresser and display of a valuable china, encapsulates everything that Rhoda in The New House (also 1936) is struggling to escape. It represents Victorian formality when she is seeking the fresh, modern, relaxed style her sister Delia plans to have in her flat with "plain, pale wood...bowls of jade and green, and heaps of cushions, raspberry red, silver green, and the deep, blue-purple of anemones".

It is interesting how many dressers are pictured with a loaf of bread and a breadboard (see yesterday's Post, too). But how many have such a wonderful collection of Ravilious china (not to mention the mocha ware mugs)? This photo of Tirzah Ravilious' dresser was taken by Edwin Smith and used in The Saturday Book (1947). It was included in Random Spectacular 17 and a smaller version was reproduced in the Fry Art Gallery's 'The Art of Acquisition: The Great Bardfield Artists' Houses' exhibition in 2015. 

This week on the Post we look at dressers, also known as Welsh dressers, which are just as fascinating as other people's bookshelves for what they contain and display. In The Village, Margaret Trevor dreams of running her own modest house and plans her ideal home with her fiancé, Roy. It will have a cosy sitting room painted primrose yellow, two comfortable armchairs and, she says, "I've always thought I'd like to have one of those old-fashioned dressers with some pewter beer-mugs...and some willow pattern plates". Marghanita Laski manages to compress so much about her characters into their domestic interiors. This is 'The Kitchen Dresser (The Cottage Loaf' (c120, private collection) by Harold Harvey.

This is the beautiful National Gallery of Ireland (built 1864, revamped 2017) which has a fascinating new exhibition devoted to 'pioneering Irish modernists' Evie Hone and Mainie Jellett. Amongst Dublin's many literary connections are two Persephone writers: Norah Hoult and Christine Longford. 

In Lady Rose and Mrs Memmary, Lady Galowrie - born Lady Rose Targenet in the 1850s - who is married to Sir Hector and lives in a palatial Scottish mansion, goes into Edinburgh to see her lawyer and meets the love of her life on a park bench in Princes Street Gardens. The National Gallery of Scotland (built 1859) is set on the edge of the gardens where there are still plenty of benches on which to sit, admire the views, and read the book. This photo (1860) with the gallery on the left is by William Donaldson Clark.