Correspondance amoureuse avec Antoinette de Watteville (1928-1937) (2001)

Balthus and Gin (a young Belgian diplomat) fight over the love of the lovely but fickle Antoinette de Watteville, who can’t make up her mind. After many adventures, the young Swiss noblewoman settles on the painter. Two hundred and forty letters make up this veritable epistolary novel of passion, fury and tears. But these pages are also a chance to discover Balthus in his own words (during these decisive years, he painted three of his masterpieces; “La Rue”, “La Leçon de guitare” and “La Montagne”). Writing to Antoinette, Balthus defends his choices, his conception of painting, his interest in the erotic… He talks of theatre and literature. He evokes his friends: Antonin Artaud, Pierre-Jean Jouve, Michel Leyris, Rainer Maria Rilke. He gets annoyed with the world, which is slowly tipping into a generalized and murdering madness. He suffers endless money worries, and faced with Antoinette’s hesitations, he attempts to take his own life… This correspondence was prepared by Balthus and Antoinette de Watteville’s children, Thadée and Stanislas. Sketches, photographs, notes, and a foreword written by the couple’s sons complete this edition of this moving correspondence — a darkly romantic love story that publicly bares the extraordinary painter’s heart for the first time.

The painting on the cover is La Toilette de Cathy.