Monet, Claude

Highly important group of three autograph letters signed, an autograph manuscript list unsigned and a printed letter signed, all relating to Monet's campaign to buy Edouard Manet's Olympia for the French National Museums, 7 pages, various sizes, in French, Giverny, par Vernon (Eure), 17 October 1889 to 13 February 1890, to the painter and printmaker Henri Charles Guérard; some light browning, marginal chipping of a few pages.

A success story: Monet's campaign to purchase Manet's Olympia for the French National Museums. This extraordinary correspondence constitutes a microcosm of Monet's Herculean efforts to organize a subscription to acquire Manet's renowned painting for the French National Museums. Monet begins his correspondence regarding the subscription with  friend and colleague, Henri Charles Guérard, on 17 October 1889. He explains: "Je m'occupe d'une souscription que nous faisons entre amis et admirateurs de Manet pour acheter son Olympia et l'offrir au Louvre. C'est le plus bel hommage que nous puissions rendre à la mémoire de notre ami et  c'est en même temps un façon discrète de venir en aide à Madame Manet puisque c'est à  elle qu'appartient l'Olympia." Monet asks his correspondent to take part in the great cause. In his postscript, Monet notes, " . . . la somme à realiser est de 20,000." Monet encloses a list of thirty-four subscribers and how much they have contributed to the fund. A veritable Who's Who of nineteenth-century French cultural society, including Boldini, Caillebotte, Durand-Ruel, Geffroy, Galliard, Huysmans, Mirbeau, Monet and Sargent to name just a few. As of 17 October, Monet documents he has already raised 15,025 francs. In his letter of 1 November 1889, Monet warmly thanks Guérard for his contribution. He also divulges who has refused to contribute: " Fauré et Miss Cassatt ont refusé ainsi que Zola."  On 4 February 1890, Guérard received a formal letter from Monet stating the subscription is closed, "et l'offre devant en être faite à l'Etat" and sends official acknowledgment of Guérard's 200 franc contribution. Monet's letter of 13 February 1890 constitutes a final warm, personal letter of thanks.

Manet's Olympia (1865) was exhibited for the first time after many years at the Universal Exposition in the late Spring of 1889. An American had expressed interest in purchasing it for 20,000 francs. This information prompted Monet to organize a subscription to acquire the work for the French National Museums. Between July 1889 and February 1890, Monet tirelessly with fellow artists, dealers, collectors and writers, to raise funds toward the 20,000-franc purchase price. On 7 February he sent a letter to the Minister of Public Education and Fine Arts announcing the gift of the painting to the French national Museums. Since policy prohibited works of art from entering the Louvre until ten years after an artist's death (Manet died in 1883), Olympia first went to the Luxembourg Museum, then the  museum of contemporary art in Paris. By order of Georges Clémenceau, Olympia finally entered the Louvre in 1907.