Jean COCTEAU - One of the last letters of his life enriched with drawings.

Jean Cocteau (1889.1963)

Autograph letter signed to Suzanne Odé.

A page in-4°. Autograph envelope.

Milly-la-Forêt. October 1, 1963.

“I had to accept a surgical transplant. I'm hiding. »

One of Cocteau's last letters, written ten days before his death and bearing two superb felt-tip drawings: a rose and the omniscient eye, a moving omen of his imminent death.

“My dear little Ode, fortunately very far from the “great odes of Claudel”. Despite this stopover to which I condemn myself out of fatigue with the disease, the remedies and the doctors. They bring me your bouquets swollen with the only tenderness that heals. In fact, the antibiotics had poisoned the left side of my face and I had to accept a surgical transplant. I'm hiding. But not to you and I kiss you. Jean Cocteau "

On Friday October 11, 1963, Édith Piaf and then Jean Cocteau died within a few hours of each other. On this strange day of “double national mourning” which was going to shake up the whole of France, a long friendship forged for more than twenty years came to an end – in life and in death.

This drawing was authenticated by Ms. Annie Guedras.