[MONET CLAUDE]: (1840-1926) French Impressionist painter. MIRBEAU OCTAVE ...

[MONET CLAUDE]: (1840-1926) French Impressionist painter. MIRBEAU OCTAVE (1848-1917) French novelist and art critic. A good A.L.S., Octave Mirbeau, two pages (written to the first and third sides of the bifolium, the third only featuring half a line of text and the signature), 8vo, n.p., n.d., to Claude Monet ( 'Mon cher Monet'), in French. Mirbeau writes in his typically small and neat hand and commences his letter stating 'Que dites-vous donc la? Fâché! Fâché pour la si charmante reception, pour le si affectueux accueil que vous et Mme. Hoschede nous avez faite a ma femme et a moi! Non seulement je ne suis pas fache, mon ami, ce qui serait la pire demence; mais je vous suis infiniment reconnaissant' (Translation: 'So what are you saying here? Angry! Angry for the charming reception, for the affectionate welcome that you and Mrs. Hoschede have given my wife and me! Not only am I not angry, my friend, which would be the worst dementia, but I am infinitely grateful to you') and explains that he has been waiting for a letter from Monet, further writing of the difficulties he has been experiencing with his work, 'Je me suis remis aussi avec acharnement au travail; et la reprise a ete dure: Je n'y etait pas, je ne vivais plus mes bons hommes: J'ai du noircir du papier en masse, et le dechirer, avant de me remettre au courant. Et voila que maintenant, je suis accable par les decouragements, et la honte de ce que je fais. Cela me semble si enfantin, si bete, si inutile! Je trouve a tout le monde un talent enorme. Il me semble que moi seul n'en ai pas' (Translation: 'I also got back to work with a vengeance; and the resumption was hard: I wasn't there, I wasn't living, my good men: I had to blacken a lot of paper, and tear it up, before getting back up to speed. And now I'm overwhelmed by discouragement, and the shame of what I do. It all seems so childish, so stupid, so pointless! I find everyone has an enormous talent. It seems to me that I alone have none') also adding that he and his wife are disappointed that Monet and his family can't come and spend a day with them, although suggesting that perhaps Alice Hoschede and the children could come on their own, and concluding by making a reference to Gustave Geffroy, 'Je vais ecrire a cet animal de Geffroy. Ce sera la quartrieme lettre qu'il aura de moi et a laquelle il n'aura pas repondu. Mais je lui pardonne a cause de son bon coeur et de son talent' (Translation: 'I am going to write to that animal Geffroy. It will be the fourth letter he has had from me and to which he has not replied. But I forgive him because of his good heart and his talent'). A letter of excellent association from Mirbeau to Monet, the artist whom he sang the praises of. VG