Saturday January 24, 1920, sometime after midnight – Paris, France. This was a visit I was dreading but I had to go. He was severely ill when I saw him. It was a heartbreaking scene. Poor Jeanne looked so distraught especially given her condition.
He managed to share a little bit of his thoughts as he was hallucinating. He could see his model, but he also saw one of his finished reclining nudes, behind her, it seemed foggy like she was in a cloud, and his painting seemed to float above the fog but it was also dripping as if some of it was still wet. He said the model was not posed like the painting, instead she was seated, nude, one leg crossed, one extended and her left arm raised behind and above her head. At least that’s what Jeanne’s interpretation was from his mumblings.
He blacked out for a bit. We waited as I tried to console Jeanne. Then he was back. He continued saying that one of his sculptures was on the ground, head broken. He could see it in the fog. He was incoherent at times, but I think he said he also saw his chair but he was not there, only his palette and his blue scarf were visible. The last thing he said was that he saw his face, barely visible, but it was in the wall and that was all I could discern. Then he blacked out again and it was time for me to leave them to their privacy…
