Who was Henry Thiriet? Today he is best known by wih poster art in signature Art Nouveau style, yet he created much more. He illustrated books, designed calendars and made quite a few 'classic' oil paintings and aquarells as well.
In a way we could say he was one of the early examples of multimedia masters. Well, to be honest, posters made him a legend and it's only fair to start the presentation of his life with them.
Posters
While Thiriet created hundreds of posters, his by far most succesful theme were bycicles with Dayton and Omega being his best customers.
Illustrations
Henry Thiriet illustrated numerous books and fairy tales were roughly a half of his contribution in this area.
This illustration of Sleeping Beauty (in the Woods) was published as a picture book.
Calendar
Vintage Postcard
Menu
Yes, even a menu can benefit by proper design and if you are selling quality champagne, you have even more reasons for that.
Comic
Magazine
Newspaper
This is a typical line drawing such was popular at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century when photography wasn't developed enough to compete with art.
Marianne Stokes was born Maria Leopoldine Preindlsberger in Graz, Austria, and always wanted to become a painter. At 15 years old, she was already studying at Graz Drawing Academy, where she spent four years honing her skills.
Marianne Stokes, drawing, self portrait
Then something strange, almost unbelievable, happened. A century before an artist (sorry, I can't find his name) died in Styria and left his possessions being only a few gulden to be invested for a hundred years. The accumulated money should be given to the most promising Styrian artist as a scholarship. Marianne won the scholarship with her first painting - Muttergluck.
This gave her a chance to move to Munich, where she lived with her aunt. She attended several private schools (the Academy of Fine Arts still didn't accept women at those times) and was taught by Wilhelm Ludwig Lindenschmit der Jungere (1829-1895), Gabriel von Hackl (1843-1926) and Otto Seitz (1846-1912) among others.
When she was 20, she met famous compositor Johann Strauss Sohn (1825-1899) and impressed him so much he dedicated a composition Light and Shadow (Licht und Schatten, op. 374), polka-mazurka to her. Experts sometimes describe her early paintings as the play of light and shadows too.
She continued her studies in Paris where two leading Art academies for women were open: Academie Trelat and Academie Colarossi. There she worked with Leon Bonnat (1833-1922), Jean-Leon Gerome (1824-1904), Pascal Dagnan-Bouveret (1852-1929), Gustave Courtois (1852-1923), Raphael Collin (1850-1916), and others. Like so many of her contemporaries, she fell under the influence of Jules Bastien-Lepage (1848-1884), the frontman of the developing Naturalist school and an important inspiration of the Impressionists. For some time Marianne focused on landscapes in a sentimental rural style but soon oriented to religious and romantic medieval themes.
Frog Prince, painting, Marianne Stokes
A fine example of this transition is the scene from The Frog Prince, a signature fairy tale from the romantic era, painted in a rural naturalism style.
She stayed faithful to fairy tales by the Grimm Brothers later, as shown in the paintings of Snow White and Brother and Sister below.
Snow White by Marianne Stokes
Brother and Sister ba Marianne Stokes
In Paris, she became friends with Finnish painter Helene Schjerfbeck (1862-1946). Both visited Pont-Aven in Brittany, France, where Marianne met Adrian Scott Stokes (1854-1935) whom she married in 1884 and adopted his surname. Soon she started signing as Mrs. Adrian Stokes although her signature on paintings changed to Marianne Stokes and a few years later changed it to initials MS in a decoratively bordered rectangle making a monogram (which was influenced by Pre-Raphaelites).
They married in 1884, in her birthplace Graz, Austria, and honeymooned for several months in Capri, Italy. This was just the start of their mutual traveling and painting. The next two summers, for instance, were enjoyed in the artist colony at Skagen, Denmark, where Stokes befriended Anna Kirstine (1859-1935) and Michael Peter Ancher (1849-1927), major contributors to Danish Impressionism.
It's interesting to note that Marianne didn't create so much as usual because she was spending a lot of time - as a model for Michael's painting A Baptism, where he depicted a baptism of ... This huge painting with dimensions 250 cm x 186 cm took more than five years to be finished and is today on view in Ribe Kunstmuseum in Denmark.
A Baptism, painting by Michael Archer with Marianne Stokes standing in the middle (dark dress)
In 1887, Marianne and Adrian enrolled in the newly established English Art Club, finding a home in St. Ives, Cornwall, where another colony of artists (she was a member of the so-called Newlyn School) grew up.
They never had kids, so there were many opportunities for further travel. Both loved Italy, Austria, and France, but Hungary became a very special place with visits in 1905, 1907, and 1908, resulting in several mutual exhibitions (he painted landscapes and she portraits), finally culminating in a book published by Adam and Charles Black, London, with worldwide distribution by The Macmillan Company and Oxford Univerity Press.
Mother and Child at Menguszfalva, Hungary
The picture above is just one of 75 (!) paintings, presented by the Stokeses in the book Hungary and a perfect example of probably her favorite theme - mother with a child.
This book is now considered a precious document of times and customs in Hungary when it was a crucial part of the Austro-Hungarian empire just before World War, which eventually led to the collapse of this once powerful multi-ethnical state.
The outbreak of the war caught them in Austria traveling and painting with another artist John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) from the United States of America. Initially, they were rejected at the border so they could not leave the country for some time but then they managed to get in Switzerland.
Marianne Stoke's Style
Marianne was a non-stop learner, always exploring new possibilities in art, constantly absorbing the knowledge and experience of other artists she met on different occasions.
We have already mentioned the influence of Naturalism and Impressionism, but we can't skip the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which also became popular at the end of the 19th century. A fine example of her work from this era is the painting Aucassin & Nicolette from 1898, a scene from a French parody of genres that were popular and overly exploited in the 12th century.
Marianne Stokes started painting in oil yet gradually moved to tempera and gesso grosso where she achieved more lively colors which didn't become darker during drying. Just like many of her contemporaries, she opted for egg tempera where the oil was replaced with egg yolk making such painting more energetic and colorful without losing lighter shadows over time.
Another influence of Pre-Raphaelites was probably (it was already noticeable before , but from then on emphasized) love for red color. Red dominates virtually all her works after 1890 with Death and the Maiden from 1908 being a great example of playing with red shades and lights.
Death and the Maiden, Marianne Stokes, painting
From that era, we should definitely mention her design of tapestry for then hugely popular William Morris & Company (a leading member of the Arts and Crafts movement) which was exhibited in several European art institutions and is now located at Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.
As a devoted Catholic, she especially enjoyed painting religious themes like the Hail Mary below and as a member of the Artists' Suffrage League, she also designed banners for the suffrage procession held in 1908.
If we try to pigeonhole her style we can describe it as a s mixture of decorative and symbolistic art under the great influence of Naturalism with a dose of Impressionism.
All these elements can be recognized in the painting below.
April by Marianne Stokes
A perfect impression with a hefty amount os symbolis, just right for the decoration of the April calendar, and with typical Pre-Raphaelit signature, right?
Marianne Stokes exhibited all around the world, from Paris Salon, Royal Academy, and National Portrait Gallery, both in London to numerous institutions in Vienna, Graz, Budapest, Pittsburgh, Melbourne, and other prestigious places, winning numerous medals (with gold in Munich and Chicago World Fair) and honorable mentions. In 1905 she was elected to the Society of Painters in Tempera and in 1923 to the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolour. While she was a leading female artist in the Victorian era, today her works are mostly hidden in private collections.
Arthur Rackham was born as the fourth of twelve children by Alfred Thomas and Anne Rackham on September 19, 1867.
Alfred Thomas Rackham served as a clerk in the Registry of Admiralty Court and eventually became an appointed Admiralty Marshal at the high court of justice. right to the end of his life, he believed in the possibility of being a descendent of infamous pirate John Rackham who was hanged in Jamaica in 1720.
Arthur studied at the City of London Scholl from 1879 to 1884. He was one of the most talented artists of the generation, respected as a sketcher and painter, getting a few awards by the way. After that, he went to Australia for a four months-long trip. The main reason was his poor health but the ultimate impact was probably his definitive entry into the world of watercolor painting. He loved to draw since tender age but his family didn't support his artistic inspirations. When they took the paper away from him, he even drew on walls and pillows.
After return to England, Arthur Rackham followed the instructions of his father and got a job in Westminster Fire Office as a junior clerk. But he also took evening lessons of drawing at the Lambeth School of Art and later enrolled in Miller's Lane, then the biggest art school around. After a while, he started drawing for different newspapers and magazines. He slowly and steadily built a reputation as a reliable and versatile artist. His remarkable talent was not showing yet at the time and it was probably his ability to adapt which pushed him forward. Another important lesson coming from his work for journals was developing an eye for detail.
In 1888 one of his paintings from Australia was accepted by the Royal Academy of Arts and sold yet he kept his day job until 1892 when he got a position at Westminster Budget Magazine as a full-time employee. He stayed there for an additional four years creating pretty conventional drawings with rare dazzles of his creative imagination. From these drawings, we can easily conclude he preferred line illustration to other techniques like tone and was drawings. He also worked for other papers like Scraps and The Pall Mall Budget but real chance showed for him only at book illustrations.
The reasons to change his focus from newspapers to books were at least two. Photography was developing very rapidly and it was obvious the need for illustrators in papers will be reduced soon. At the same time, the printing technique was better and better, clearly leading to full-color printing as a standard for books. Photographic techniques were introduced into the printing process eliminating clumsy woodworking and enabling the reproduction of tender lines of artists like Rackham as they were done by the artist, not an engraver's approximation.
Influences
We already noticed Rackham learned more from his work than in schools. Studying works by already established masters contributed even more to the development of his style. Pre-Raphaelites, Howard Pyle, Daniel Maclise, Charles Robinson, and J. F. Sullivan were among the most influential ones. We should probably mention Richard 'Dicky' Doyle, too, yet it would be wrong to pick just a few artists when Rackham's style ultimately became the fusion of many traditions with modern techniques. The first impression of his illustrations on the observer without previous knowledge is very likely the magic of his colors, the effect achieved by adding layer after layer of transparent colors but above all, he became one of the best line artists of all times. We can even say his pictures are like line drawings for coloring books executed by skilled and artistically self-confident grown-ups, yet essentially still coloring books.
While his first participation at book illustrating (A Dog's Mission by Harriet Beecher Stowe, The Frerryman's Boy by Crona Temple may or may not be his work), a cover for The New Fiction of 1895 and collaboration at To the Other Side by Thomas Rhodes, following by The Dolly Dialogues, 1894 and Sunrise Land, 1894, stayed relatively unnoticed, his next two (The Ingoldsby Legends, 1898 and Tales from Shakespeare, 1899) paved his way to wide recognition. About a decade later, when he was already an established illustrator and one of the most popular artists in the world, both were reprinted with additional illustrations and in luxurious versions.
In 1900 he got a huge commission - The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm which is now considered as his breakthrough work. Since then he was in constant demand and his earnings were higher and higher. The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm was also reprinted several times, also with additional illustrations (the first edition had only one colored frontispiece), and in different versions, often just a selection of some of the stories from the first publication. The Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm from 1909 (with 40 (!) colored pages) by Rackham, especially signed one, is a classic work with huge potential for collectors.
An additional source of income became exhibitions of his original paintings (he liked to create pictures twice as bigger than they appeared printed what gave him a chance for more details in the compositions) which were often sold out in a few days after the opening. His books were published in different formats, as standard, Quattro, and deluxe editions, in expense versions numbered and signed by Rackham. He had more quirks, sometimes entering the bookstores and signed the books which he then returned to the shelves or buying books for his friends with adding an extra hand-made illustration.
In 1900 he also married Edyth Starkie, another talented painter with whom he had a daughter Barbara who later served as a model for many of the characters in his books. Rackham liked to include objects from his environment to the imaginary worlds he illustrated. He also portrayed his own face on more or less important characters in his books.
In the next two decades, he produced numerous illustrations for all-time classics as Gulliver's Travels, Aesop's Fables, The Night Before Christmas, or Fairy Tales by Hans Andersen. He exhibited all over the world. In the 1930s his and his wife's health declined. The volume of his creations declined as well. Arthur Rackham's last completed project was The Wind in the Willows, a very sentimental decision for him because he already turned down the offer of illustrating that book three decades ago due to the deadline for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
He died in 1939 and although as a late bloomer is now considered one of the most influential illustrators of all time.
Quattrocento is formally the art period starting in 1401 with a competition to design the doors of Baptistry in Florence and ending in 1503 with the proclamation of Pope Julius II. The word, of course, comes from Italian number for four hundred (abbreviated for one thousand and four hundred - the era of the fifteenth century).
In this period the Italian art was steadily progressing to harmony and stability of the Renaissance. Thanks to its start in Florence, the birthplace of Renaissance, Quattrocento is often interchangeably used with Renaissance in general.
The crucifixion of St. Peter by Michelangelo
The main characteristics in different fields of arts were:
the architecture used more geometrical and symmetrical elements with a preference of open spaces and additional light,
painters started using less tempera and more oils,
new, rationalized view on linear perspective and use of single light source caused changes which led to more realistic and three-dimensional paintings,
compositions in paintings became more symmetric, pyramidal structure dominated,
a better understanding of human anatomy led to greater popularity of large sculptures of nudes, for the first time after Antique,
frescoes (and other large scale paintings) gained popularity,
the popularity of mosaics, stained glass, and other decorative arts declined,
religious themes started to be less popular, more secular themes found their place in art.
In the fifteenth century, many smaller city-states (like Mantua, where Giambattista Basile 'invented' a fairy tale) led by princes employed so-called court-artists who got fixed salary in exchange for their availability to execute orders by princes. Collaboration between artists became very common. Among their duties were also decor for parties, creation of costumes and masks, furniture design, making of gifts for important guests, ... Number of ordered portraits raised.
Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
Greater stability and economic prosperity led to art sponsorship of more and more citizens like merchants and guild members. The relative length (full century) of piece and competitiveness among sponsors and artists helped to development of numerous artistic projects. Huge interest in science and application of scientific discoveries in art made a positive influence as well.
Some of the most influential artists from Quattrocento period were:
Giovanni Bellini
Jacopo Bellini
Sandro Boticelli
Carlo Crivelli
Donatello (Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi)
Masaccio (Tommaso di Ser Giovanni di Simone)
Michelangelo (Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni)
Antoniazzo Romano
Luca Signorelli
Leonardo da Vinci
Birth of Venus by Boticelli
While it's next to impossible to distinguish Quattrocento (15th century) from Cinquecento (16th century) era because many artists created in both, it's clear the gravity of creative power moved from Florence to Rome and this is probably the best way to define the end of this influential period.
The Pied Piper of Hamelin also known as The Rat-Catcher of Hamelin is a story about a stranger, dressed in colorful clothes who came into the city of Hamelin, the western part of today's Germany. The city was heavily infested with rats, they were literarily running over the tables in the middle of the day, and nothing helped against. Then a stranger offered to clear the mess for proper payment. By playing a magical flute he made all the rats to follow him out of town and the city was cleared. He kept his promise.
But the situation complicated when the stranger returned – the major for some reason decided not to pay and the piper angrily leaves the city only to get back a bit later, this time playing a different tune by his flute. All grown-ups couldn’t move and all the kids followed the stranger in an unknown direction. They were never seen again. Well, one, or three, depending on the version, stayed in town. The reason: inability to follow for some physical handicap like poor eyesight or lameness or deafness.
It’s important to note a few things:
There is a city called Hamelin in Germany. The citizens are very well aware of the legend about the piper and disappearance of children. There are numerous signs related to the city in the story and it became a nice source of income from tourists.
The oldest written record in the city (dating 1384) says: “One hundred years have passed since our kids left the town of Hamelin.” It's hard to know if they physically left or died of the plague. There was a pictorial representation of the events as well. But the stain glass window in the local church where the scene(s) were presented didn't survive past the 17th century.
Several old records support the story about 130 children leaving the town going to an unknown place and never return. If this truly happened the most believable places are in the East. Brother Grimm, for instance, supported the theory about moving to Transilvania (their version of the legend was published as Der Rattenfänger in Deutsche Sagen (1816)).
The story about the piper of Hamelin, although later adapted into a song for kids (by Browning), poem for adults (by Goethe), presented as a legend (by Grimm brothers), like a cartoon (by Disney), etc., if pretty obviously based on real events. But which?
Illustration by Kate Greenaway
There are several theories, yet none of them is widely accepted.
The piper could be a personification of a catastrophe like a plague. The rats in the story would support the theory, but the history of the records not. The rats were added to the story only several centuries after the first records were written (without any mentioning of rats). The plague epidemy also happened about half of the century after the kids departed the town of Hamelin.
The children could be recruited for so-called Children crusades when poor parents’ children left homes to occupy unsettled territories in the East. Part of today’s Romania and part of today’s Poland could be their destination and names in phone directories support the theory. But hardly anything else.
There were times when people were so poor they simply sold their kids because they lost belief they can support them. If a rich, well-dressed man with the right promises and some money came, it would be possible they accepted his offer. If something like this happened, it would be understandable they tried to forget it (nothing is written in those time) but couldn’t (the story started to circulate later when everybody involved was already dead).
Short analysis of character Othello by Shakespeare
Othello (also titled The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor from Venice) is a well-known play written by William Shakespeare, for the first time performed at the beginning of the 17th century and based on the story Un Capitano Moro by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Cinthio, which is about half a century older. The character from the title is undisputedly one of the most tragic characters, not only among Shakespeare's works but in the whole world of art too.
Othello by Artus Scheiner (1863-1938)
Let’s take a look at three main characteristics, or shall we say reasons, for so special position of this character among so many others!
1. Racism. Being colored in a society of all whites is definitely not a good start, yet the story of Othello begins with an even stronger contrast. He was a slave, he escaped, became a warrior, a military leader, and a hero. He seems like an example of rag to riches story plot until we start to realize how racism still managed to get him.
The play is full of remarks about his race, from the African origin of him to the shape of his lips. It seems almost everybody, including Brabantio, his father in law, can’t go over the fact how different he looks. Despite all the heroic achievements he offered to society, the fact is still simple – he is a black man in a white society.
Othello is an outsider and this is a negligible part of his charm. We all have a different experience with racism, which is still alive and kickin’ all over the world, so our levels of empathy differ.
But on the other hand, each one of us has at least a few experiences about being an outsider, a person with different education, experience, background or whatever may come in one’s way in a certain situation.
Such situations can be very stimulating and it looks for a while Othello managed to find a place for himself in the society which appreciates his military skills. Unfortunately, the same society can’t get over his marriage with a white woman.
It is not only an interracial marriage, but it’s also a marriage between members of completely different social classes. Othello knows he is not truly accepted and this inevitably leads to the tragic ending.
2. Jealousy. If we want to find a typical character obsessed with jealousy, we can say Othello is a perfect example.
Iago, the guy who was surpassed when Othello was promoted, skillfully manipulates with his already existing doubts and thanks to a few accidental situations Othello slowly loses his temper until he finally kills his own wife. Only after Desdemona’s dead body, he realizes his capital mistake and after a heartbreaking monologue commits suicide.
From the very beginning, it is clear Iago is not Othello’s friend, but the hero of the story still decides to believe him despite his own wife’s claims and proofs of love and faithfulness.
This play is a superb handbook about jealousy, an emotion, which exists in each one of us and can work a driving force in the progress of humankind, but can very fast cause a disaster, if it’s not balanced with joy, trust, and other positive emotions. Othello is obviously not capable of controlling his anger, what doesn’t make his suitable for a military officer or a family man either.
Again, each one of us experienced jealousy in different forms and intensities, so it’s relatively easy to identify oneself with Othello, although very likely not in so extreme expressions.
3. Self-centeredness. According to all already said, Othello’s self-centeredness is prominent. He is unable to cope with Desdemona’s feelings or Iago’s motivations because everything he can think about is Othello and nobody else.
His inability to overcome his own personal and extremely small world of limitations and deeply ingrained beliefs about his own inferiority is another dimension of Othello’s tragic character.
He simply can’t believe he is worthy of a lady of Desdemona’s quality. This conclusion instantly leads to a set of questions about his love in the first place, but such doubts surpass the main goal of this basic analysis of Othello’s character.
Vaslav Nijinsky was a Russian dancer of Polish nationality, born in Ukraine, married to Hungarian in Argentina, whose career peaked in France, made tours across America and Africa, and was hospitalized in Switzerland. He died in England, is buried in Paris, and was an international star in every possible way.
While both his parents had academic education in dancing and made a living at theaters, operas, and circuses, the family was not particularly financially successful. When father left the others with a pregnant mistress, things didn’t improve.
Vaslav was an extremely talented boy who entered Imperial Ballet School at nine and made a stage debut at ten years in the role of a chimney sweep. He was described as a kid with extremely ordinary and colorless face, amazing dancing talents and poor study skills (with an exception of geometry).
His younger sister Bronislava, who often did his homework, well documented his early career, writing about his ‘performances’ dancing on the doorknob or jumping as high as a ball bounces.
Unfortunately, we don’t have a video documentary about his superb dancing skills, but according to the photos we can still conclude about his luxurious talent and ability to transform himself into a wide variety of credible characters on the dance podiums.
Nijinsky’s life is full of interesting facts, starting with the unclear date of birth and ending with mental illness when he started to believe he is a god.
Despite his indisputable talent and head start at the Imperial Ballet in St. Petersburg as so-called coryphee (dancer ranked between an ordinary member of the ensemble but below the solo dancer), this was not enough.
He needed a sponsor and he found it in Prince Lvov, who financially helped at his next career steps when the two of them briefly became lovers. Such ‘sponsorship’ was widely accepted in those times and was even encouraged by Vaslav’s mother Eleonora.
Prince got bored of young ballet dancer pretty soon and introduced him to several friends among which was Sergei Diaghilev, who was even older (due to the uncertain birthdate of Nijinsky we can only speculate there were about 17 years of age difference) and soon he became Vaslav’s protegee and lover.
Diaghilev was one of the most influential Russian artists of the time, trying to break the somehow stale traditionalism in existing artistic ways. He and other members of the so-called World of Art group brought fresh ideas from the West, but Russian art made its way to West as well.
When Diaghilev decided to follow a successful exhibition of paintings and a series of concerts with opera and ballet productions, Nijinsky was at the right time in the right place. Performances in Paris and other European cities were so successful Diaghilev decided to set a permanent group called Ballets Russes.
With music, decor and enthusiastic dances with Nijinsky in leading roles, they charmed the audience all over Europe. Parisians nicknamed him ‘The God of Dance’. Controversies surrounding Diaghilev’s and Nijinsky’s relationship, Vaslav’s provocative interpretations and numerous fans who tried to break into his wardrobe to steal his underwear (!) helped to build a reputation which was upgraded with Nijinsky’s first choreographic attempts.
While he was a superb dancer, the choreography was probably his ultimate artistic call. He dared to challenge all traditional elements of ballet and is now recognized as one of the artists who pushed the ballet into modernism.
Performances of his interpretations caused an uproar among the audience and at the Rite of Spring the police had to be called. His incompetence in communication caused many fights with dancers, composers, and critics.
At the same time, his relationship with Diaghilev wasn’t as good as it was before. Diaghilev hired Nijinsky’s rival Michel Fokine for next project and suggested Vaslav take a break for a full year.
When group set off on the tour to South America, Diaghilev, who fear the sea, didn’t accompany Vaslav and being for weeks on board with Romola de Pulszky, Hungarian ballerina from a wealthy family, who fancied him for years, Nijinsky did something extraordinary again – he married Romola.
How that happened is still not clear, because they didn’t share a language at the time, but they took wedding vows in Buenos Aires right after landing. When Diaghilev heard the news, he telegraphed Nijinsky he was fired from the group.
This was the start of a long and painful way down. Nijinsky tried to build his own group but dismissed it after only two weeks experiencing a first mental breakdown. First signs of schizophrenia appeared.
For almost two years he was a prisoner of war (in house arrest at his wife’s home in Budapest) where he unsuccessfully tried to develop special dance notation, similar to music notes. After release, he joined Diaghilev’s group again, this time in the USA, but without success, he was used to.
Apart from that, he met two deeply religious men: Nicholas Zverev and Dmitry Kostrovsky, both devoted followers of Tolstoy’s philosophy. Nijinsky became vegetarian, started preaching nonviolence and using the democratic system in the dancing troupe, which eventually led to significant financial losses.
After the tour in America with the final performance in Uruguay, he and his wife moved to St. Moritz. About one year after his mental health started to deteriorate. At the beginning of 1919 he wrote now famous diary, which is now believed the most detailed diary of an artist who suffered mental illness.
He had psychotic episodes, occasional hallucinations and was hospitalized in a sanatorium. Thanks to isolation and overall confusion some things from his private life will never be clear. His second daughter, for instance, maybe a love child from an affair of his wife with one of his doctors. Or maybe not.
What we know for sure, is the fact he changed several clinics and never found inner peace again. He died at 60 years of age in London and is buried in Paris. We also know he was a brilliant artist who might achieve much much more if the circumstances were not as they were.
But on the other hand, in different circumstances he would probably not be a part of the avant-garde, so we can only guess and regret there are no video recordings of his performances.
