MODIGLIANI Amedeo - Drugs and Montparnasse.

Amedeo MODIGLIANI (1884.1920)

Autograph letter signed to Paulette Philippi known as “Manon”.

Two ½ in-8° pages on graph paper.

Paris. (1906-1910). Slight consolidations at the folds.

“I can only explain what happened by the mixture of poisons . »

Very rare letter from Modigliani, addressed to Manon, muse of the painters of Montparnasse, supplier of drugs and pleasures for the artists of La Bohème.

The painter apologizes for his unacceptable behavior which he attributes to the Mixture of Poisons , describes a hallucinatory night scene and poses as a “messenger of joy”

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“Dear friend, Don’t blame me for my behavior yesterday. I swear on my mother's head to have no hard feelings towards (sic). I can only explain what happened by the mixture of poisons . I have wonderful memories of the show across the street from where the music was coming out. Because the lit windows gave the idea of ​​a giorno lighting in deserted and noisy rooms. A man came there, and after the little door of the vast house closed, the rooms were filled with even more light and brightness and sound and silence . What can we say about the admirable garden at night! So let me kiss your hands, dear Manon. I wish you happiness as I feel it approaching myself. Be happy in your beautiful home and soon you will see a messenger of joy appear. Ouassalam (peace be with you). Modigliani.

Like most of Amedeo's letters, this one is neither dated nor written from a specified place. Parke Bernet's catalog mistakenly identified the painter's famous mistress, Béatrice Hastings as this enigmatic "Manon". But Manon undoubtedly refers to an earlier moment in the painter's life. Real name Paulette Philippi, Manon ran a sort of Chinese salon on Rue de Douai in Montparnasse where, in the early years of the 19th century, young painters indulged in the paradise of narcotics. It was through Manon and certain other of her “colleagues” that the use of drugs spread in Parisian Bohemia at the time. Manon abused the most beautiful and fell in love with some. She appears under the name Opia in the remarkable diary of Henri-Pierre Roché. Paul Fort made her the muse of one of his French Ballades (Paris sentimental). And René Dalize, Apollinaire's friend, described this Manon as the " Weed of Prostitution ", according to a formula noted by André Salmon.

“ I smoked at Manon’s. Apollinaire smoked. Picasso tried it without persevering. We could see for a moment, in the workshop of the Bateau-Lavoir, an embryonic smokehouse (…) Manon who sometimes went up to Place du Tertre had noticed Modigliani there, finding him beautiful. She urged me to bring it back to her on rue de Douai: It wouldn't be so good in terms of the thing (...) but don't you think that a handsome guy like him (...) would look good on my mat? I think he would bite into the thing, and also I would have pleasure, after a few strong blowjobs, running my fingers through his oriental hair ” (A. Salmon, The passionate life of Modigliani, 1957, pp. 85-87 ).