MONET CLAUDE (1840-1926). - Lot 181

Lot 181
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7000 - 8000 EUR
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Result : 7 800EUR
MONET CLAUDE (1840-1926). - Lot 181
MONET CLAUDE (1840-1926). 4 L.A.S. "Claude", London 13-16 February 1901, to HIS WIFE ALICE; 4, 8, 4 and 3 pages in-8 on letterhead of the Savoy Hotel. Chronicles four days of his life in London and his work at the Thames views. 13 February. "My good darling, It is the devil now to write to you, it is past six and I have only just come from the hospital, having not had a minute all day. I can still tell you that it has worked out pretty well in spite of the weather being very changeable but with very nice effects, and this evening I found that it is freezing cold, and at times snowing. He spent a good evening with George MOORE, "who torments me so that I make a pochade of him, as if I had the time, he is more and more furious against the English, [...He spares no one and gossips quite a lot, so he claims that Sargent, whom he hates as an artist, is at his best with Mrs. Hunter [...] I have heard nothing more about Sargent, [...] if I know him in London, I must find a moment to go and see him, or else I will write to him and ask him to come to dinner with me. [...] for you my darling all my thoughts all my heart your old man who loves you Claude". 14 February. "It's 9 a.m. and it's dark as if it were the middle of the night [...] I got up as usual at 7 a.m. expecting a superb day, the sky was clear with still a few stars, and I was getting ready to watch for the sunrise, but it's the fog that has risen and is increasing in intensity so that at the moment it's becoming absolutely unbelievable, [....] It's hard to have beautiful things to paint and to suddenly have a layer of darkness of an unspeakable colour in front of you". He tells of his dinner for two with Mrs. Hunter... He is probably going to see SARGENT, "but it seems that he was exhausted, the stay in Germany having been only a series of parties and the night journey at sea had finished him off". There is to be a great festival and procession "for the opening of Parliament by the King and everything will be turned upside down soon"; he refused to attend, "not having a minute to lose. Alas the fog persists from dark brown to olive green, but still as dark and impenetrable. He recounts the funeral of Queen Victoria, where Mrs. Hunter was almost suffocated by the crowd... He pauses during a break in the weather, and resumes at 6 a.m.: "I have just come back from the hospital and am very happy with my day, it is the best since I have been here. From 10 a.m. the sun showed a little cloudiness at times, but the effects of the shining on the water were admirable, so I paid for it with my lunch [...] There is a great crowd in the streets to see the royal procession enter Parliament and I have difficulty in getting to the hospital"... 15 February. "Two words in haste to tell you that I have had another fairly good day except this evening when I had a bit of a rough time in hospital, but I must not complain too much, because I was quite frightened when I woke up to see everything white with snow, but fortunately it did not last. [...] It continues to be very cold and the barometer is not going down, which is good for me, and I hope that the weather does not change here at least"... Saturday 16 [February]. He will dine the next day with Sargent and Moore... "The weather has changed, it is raining and my dear sun has completely disappeared. I am not working any less for that, but inevitably on other paintings. What will come out of so much pain and research, it is time alone that will decide, making all my efforts. [...] All my thoughts my dear, all the tenderness of your old Claude who loves you"...
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