Lot #617

Claude Monet: Finding a new focus in life following the deaths of his wife and son, Monet empathizes: "I know what it feels like to lose a child, but for the mother the pain is even greater"

Description

Finding a new focus in life following the deaths of his wife and son, Monet empathizes: "I know what it feels like to lose a child, but for the mother the pain is even greater"

ALS in French, in purple pencil, two pages, 5.25 x 8.25, Giverny Par Vernon Eure letterhead, February 8, 1917. Letter to an unidentified woman. In full (translated): 'Because of the temperatures and the irregular…it will be impossible for me to be at your dear son’s funeral, but I wanted you to know how I feel for you and poor Genevieve. I went through similar calamities and I know what it feels like to lose a child, but for the mother the pain is even greater. I can only feel sorry for you and assure you that Blanche and I share in your sorrow.' In very good condition, with some mild wrinkling and creasing, thin vertical stains to both pages, one affecting first name of signature, 'received' notation to top left, and all writing a shade light, but still completely legible.

Monet knew only too well the grief of losing a child. Widowed in 1911, he was still in mourning when his oldest son, Jean, suffered a stroke a year later and died in 1914. 'I feel for you…I went through similar calamities and I know what it feels like to lose a child,' Monet, a grieving husband and father now in advancing age, notes of the tragedy of a parent outliving their child. He quickly adds to the recipient of this message, 'for the mother the pain is even greater.' It was in the midst of all that tragedy that Monet found a renewed sense of motivation and creativity, realizing his last great period at Giverny, the French locale of his famed garden and studio. Pre-certified John Reznikoff/PSA/DNA and RRAuction COA.

Auction Info

• Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts
• Dates: #367 - Ended 02/09/2011

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This item is Pre-Certified by PSA/DNA
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