01.12.1884 · uncertain date
Pissarro in Monet: mutual assistance and difficulties between Impressionists
Camille Pissarro responds to Claude Monet's material difficulties and assures him that he will try to help him despite his own precarious financial situation. He evokes the support received from Gustave Caillebotte and recommends that Monet ask Mr.La Place, patron of the brewery La Grande Pinte, to create a decorated palette. He also advised him to pass this on to Alfred Sisley. The letter bears witness to the concrete solidarity between Impressionist painters and the uncertainty of sales.
- Sender
- Camille Pissarro
- Recipient
- Claude Monet
- Place sent
- Pontoise
- Original language
- French
Letter text
Transcription
Pontoise, Monday.
My dear Monet,
I could not write to you immediately at the reception of your good and sad letter, being busy with visits from parents.
If I can help you, I will make myself available to you; I'm very bad loti and flat besace, but on occasion, good news coming up, I'll be happy to share it with you; nothing for now, a few small sales from far away made by shy little amateurs, and happy to have had Caillebotte to help me pass this summer course, without him my sales would certainly not have saved me from the shipwreck.
So see M. La Place, boss of the brewery La Grande Pinte, place des Martyrs, he will give you to make an decorated palette, I made one as Manet and others, he paid me fifty francs with difficulty, I kept good, I knew he needed it in his collection, do the same and better if possible.
If you see Sisley, get him out and tell him the situation, it would be silly to be fooled for so little.
Receive, my dear friend, my friendly greetings.
C. Pissarro.
Context
Editorial note
Transcript based on the printed reproduction provided. Word clippings due to page changes and for line purposes have been deleted to facilitate reading. Spelling, formulations and punctuation have been kept as far as possible. The mention "Pontoise, monday" does not allow a full date to be established, and no place of destination appears in the extract.