MISIA - A BEAUTY PERHAPS BUT AT THE END ALONE

Marielle and I went to see «Misia-The Queen of Paris» at the Orsay on Friday. What had intrigued me about this figure is her apparent beauty and yet the poster which advertised the exhibition was certainly not as flattering considering she was supposed to be so beautiful. 
Félix Valloton - At her dressing table
Had Félix Vallotton done her justice? Born in 1872 in Saint Petersburg, she was an accomplished pianist at an early age although played for her own pleasure, or for her friends. 


Toulouse Lautrec


La Revue Blanche
I’m not sure when the family comes to France but maybe her first husband Thadée Natanson (1868-1951), a Polish lawyer, businessman and journalist, founder of the Revue blanche and her cousin by marriage, introduced her into the artistic and intellectual circle which became her life.
 
Misia becomes friendly with the artists and contributors of the Revue blanche : Pierre Bonnard, Édouard Vuillard, Félix Vallotton, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Romain Coolus, Octave Mirbeau, Tristan Bernard, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, among others. Also she is a confidant of Picasso although I had never - as far as I can remember - seen any reference to her in the books I have read about Picasso. When Natanson was on the brink of bankruptcy, the newspaper magnate Alfred Edwards saved him, on condition that he surrender his wife to him. Just imagine that today! She was also a very close friend of Chanel’s and dressed by her into the bargain. Three marriages, three divorces. Drugs, alcohol and in the end she dies alone. In reading what I could find on Internet - and there is a lot - I was trying to think of someone who compared with her today. Another woman. I can’t think of anyone - in France anyway.
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