Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Autograph letter signed ('Claude') to [his wife, Alice], Savoy Hotel, London, 15 March 1901
In French. 6 pages, 204 x 127mm, on a bifolium and singleton; with an English translation. Provenance: Sotheby's, 5 December 2017, lot 138.

'I am not thinking at all about my poor paintings': a sickly and discouraged Monet at the Savoy Hotel. Monet is relieved to have had a kind letter from Alice, evidently after an epistolary argument, and apologises for having sent all his letters by special delivery. He hopes that his telegram reached her in time to let her know that he was recovered from his illness, even if he still suffers from dizziness ('toujours la tête comme vide et tendance à etourdissement’): the German doctor Naumann came that morning and advised him to eat 'one lamb cutlet and spinach and some wine', and Mrs Sargent came the day before to bring him some meat jelly. He mentions letters he has written, including to [Desmond] Fitzgerald about a painting, and to Durand-Ruel asking him to send Alice money for the intended purchase of a car, and other business matters which exhaust him ('aussi ai-je horriblement chaud de fatigue'). As for painting 'I am not thinking at all about my poor paintings: I haven't looked at them since Sunday and as the previous week had been disastrous for work it would be heartbreaking for me and I don't want to see them'. His only desire is to hasten home.

... je ne songe pas du tout à mes pauvre toiles je ne les ai pas regardés depuis dimanche et comme la semaine precedente avait été funeste comme travail ce me serait un crève cœur et ne veux pas les voir ...

This was one of three visits Monet made to London between 1899 and 1901, often staying at the Savoy Hotel. The resulting views of the Thames were exhibited at Durand-Ruel's gallery in Paris in 1904, to great acclaim.