Claude MONET is saddened by the inexorable deterioration of his eyes.

Claude Monet (1840.1926)

Autograph letter signed, probably to Doctor Charles Coutela.

Two pages in-8° in blue ink, on Giverny letterhead by Vernon.

Giverny. June 4, 1924.

“I'm anxiously waiting for the drinks promised for Friday. »

Moving end-of-life letter from the Master of Impressionism, difficult to write, lamenting his deteriorating eyesight, following the operation on his eye undergone in January 1923.

____________________________________________________

“My dear friend, I am thinking of giving you this month, touched as I am by what you do for me and all of mine are grateful to you. I cannot and do not want to write to you at length, but only to tell you that I subscribe to everything you propose to me. I am anxiously awaiting the glasses promised for Friday – then your visit with Geffroy at the beginning of next week and finally the arrival with you of Doctor Maxxas [sic, doctor Jacques Mawas eye specialist] Maurice Denis's oculist . That's it and thank you from the bottom of my heart. Claude Monet. »

____________________________________________________

The first signs of visual deterioration in Monet appeared around 1910. Embarrassed in his work and worried, Monet, after consulting numerous specialists, did not want to have an operation, remembering the blindness of Mary Cassatt and that of Honoré Daumier occurred after the same intervention.

For nearly ten years, Monet continued his work despite the inexorable deterioration of his eyesight. In 1922, a sudden drop in visual acuity in his left eye forced him to have an operation; he could no longer paint. Encouraged by Georges Clemenceau, Monet had an operation (on his right eye) in January 1923 by Doctor Charles Coutela at the Neuilly-sur-Seine clinic.

The consequences of the intervention were painful for the artist, disturbed in his vision of colors: “I see blue, I no longer see red, I no longer see yellow; It bothers me terribly because I know these colors exist. » Tinted corrective lenses, prescribed by the doctor Jacques Mawas, – subject of this letter – were therefore necessary for the artist to correct his perception of colors and once again understand the extent of his palette.