Camille on Her Deathbed

ART AND IMAGES IN PSYCHIATRY

SECTION EDITOR: JAMES C. HARRIS, MD Camille on Her Deathbed

AMILLE-LEONIE DONCIEUX Monet (1847- Many years after Camille’s passing, Monet spoke with 1879) died at 32 years of age after a pro- his friend Georges Clemenceau, the former French prime tracted illness, most likely metastatic cer- minister, about her death: vical cancer.1 She had been the inspiration and model for her husband, Claude Mo- I found myself staring at the tragic countenance, automatically trying to identify the sequence, the proportion of light and shade netC (1840-1926). In 1866, despite his youth, Monet’s in the colors that death had imposed on the immobile face. painting of Camille (Woman in Green Dress) was ac- Shades of blue, yellow, gray...Even before the thought oc- cepted and acclaimed at the annual Paris Salon, the con- curred to memorize the face that meant so much to me, my first servative arbiter of subject matter and style in painting.2 involuntary reflex was to tremble at the shock of the colors. In In the ensuing 12 years, Camille, either alone or with her spite of myself, my reflexes drew me into the unconscious op- son, was the primary model for his paintings. eration that is the daily order of my life. Pity me, my friend.4 Their relationship began when she was just 19 years of age and he was 25. She was said to be attractive and in- These comments were made 40 years after Camille’s telligent with beautiful eyes. During their life together she death. Was it an early phase of bereavement with its ac- experienced poverty, rejection from his family, and his am- companying denial and disbelief that allowed him the ob- bivalent feelings toward her; she tolerated his prolonged jectivity to complete this final portrait? His signature stands absences, lived with his depressions, and shared his suc- out starkly on the painting, but he did not sign it and it cesses. When she became pregnant out of wedlock and de- was never exhibited during his lifetime; the painting was livered a son, Jean, on August 8, 1867, his family disap- stamped with Monet’s signature after his death. Camille is proved. His father suggested that his son simply abandon shown veiled, as she is in other paintings of his, but here Camille.3 Seeking not to upset his family, Monet secretly the veil is her shroud; she is dressed in blue in the style of visited her. the Impressionists. The details of her lips retracting at death They married 3 years later in a civil ceremony on June give the portrait a sense of immediacy. Her face and body 28, 1870, at the onset the Franco-Prussian War. His fam- seem to dissolve into the lightly painted gray gauze of the ily did not help him with the marriage and left him to ne- shroud, and the only real glimpse of color is provided by gotiate with her family. the bouquet of flowers on her chest. Tucker suggests that Four years later in 1874, Camille witnessed his lead- the painting evokes both her passing and her physical pres- ership at the first independent exhibit in Paris, France— ence, noting that the image is sweet, angelic, and passive one that included 65 works by Paul Ce´zanne, Edgar De- yet energized. He writes, “The picture speaks not merely gas, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Camille Pissarro, and others. about Monet’s being struck by the changing colors but also Among the paintings was Monet’s Impression, Sunrise, which about his uncanny ability to evoke peace and pain, sorrow and celebration—essential conditions of those trying to deal rather than emphasizing a realistic scene, captured the ex- 5(p103) perience of the moment. She read the disparaging review with the reality of death.” of the exhibit that Louis Leroy published in the April is- The winter after her death, when the River Seine froze sue of Le Charivari. He called it the “Exhibition of the Im- and thawed, Monet painted the surface of the river clut- pressionists,” giving this innovative movement its name, tered with slabs of ice that had split off from huge ice floes. These landscapes are cold and empty of any living but wrote that “wallpaper in its embryonic state is more 3 finished than this seascape.”2 thing, desolate and silent. Nature had united with Mo- Camille delivered a second son on March 17, 1878. net’s private melancholy. That year, 1879, signaled the She had become ill the previous year, and although sur- breakup of the Impressionist group and was a turning gery had been recommended for “uterine ulceration,” she point in Monet’s private life. Camille’s death marked the was afraid and refused the proposed surgical procedure.1 end of an era. Her condition worsened during and after the pregnancy, James C. Harris, MD and she became terminally ill. Because their marriage ceremony had been a civil one, the Abbe´ Amaury, the local REFERENCES priest, was asked to meet with Camille and was requested

to formally rehabilitate (consecrate) their marriage. He 1. Gedo MM. Mme Monet on her deathbed. JAMA. 2002;288:928. agreed to do so, and the following day, Camille received 2. Patin S. Monet: The Ultimate Impressionist. Roberts A, trans. New York, NY: Harry the last sacraments and was described as calmer. Four days N. Abrams Inc; 1993. after the priest’s visit, Camille died: Friday, September 5, 3. Wildenstein D. Monet: or the Triumph of Impressionism. Miller C, Snowdon P, 1879, after bidding her last farewell to her children. As a trans. Cologne, Germany: Benedikt Tachen Verlag GmbH; 1999. 4. Clemenceau G. Claude Monet. In: Stuckey CF, ed. Monet: A Retrospective. New final gesture, Monet retrieved Camille’s pawned gold locket, York, NY: Hugh Lauter Associates, Inc; 1985:350-351.6. the only keepsake that she had left, and placed it around 5. Tucker PH. Claude Monet: Life and Art. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press; her neck in death.3 1995.

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