Despairing over his terminally ill step-daughter - photo 1
Despairing over his terminally ill step-daughter - photo 2
Despairing over his terminally ill step-daughter - photo 3

Despairing over his terminally ill step-daughter

Starting price
$ 1 800
Auction dateClassic
16.10.2020 10:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 411511
Lot 103 | Despairing over his terminally ill step-daughter
MONET, Claude (1840-1926). Autograph letter signed ("Claude Monet") to Gustave Geffroy, Paris, 17 November [1895].

In French. Two pages, bifolium, 134 x 209mm, on Grand Hotel Terminus letterhead, with transmittal envelope (minor wear at folds).

Monet despairs over his terminally ill step-daughter: "impossible to think of anything else, and painting which was my whole life is completely out of the question ["la peinture qui était toute ma vie est dans le troisième dessous"]: who knows whether I will ever take it up again, I feel so overtaken by dark thoughts." Suzanne was the eldest daughter of Alice Hoschedé, whom Monet married in 1892, and one of Monet's favorite models, appearing in the The Woman with a Parasol (1886) and The Stroller (1887). She died 6 February 1899 in Giverny. Gustave Geffroy (1855-1926), an influential art critic and author, was a close friend of Monet's and champion of his art. Here Monet also reacts to a recent article by Geffroy on Cezanne, commenting that it gave him much pleasure to see the great artist finally receiving favorable attention ("le plaisir de penser que justice sera rendue à ce si pur artiste"), and complains about "the campaign waged against me by those guttersnipes of the art trade."
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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01.10.2020 – 16.10.2020
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