November 2015, Juliette Gréco explodes. Gréco black anger: breathtaking. ” Her “ painting has disappeared. In the large stone residence of Verderonne, in the Oise, there is commotion. “I am very unhappy, I feel like a little piece of my life has been taken away from me,” laments the singer, then aged 88, who lives in the Isarian countryside with her husband, the pianist and composer Gérard Jouannest. There is disorder in this house where the family, the collaborators, the journalists, the relatives, the employees, the conquered, the devoted, the sycophants circulate.
Who dared to lay their hands on this little painting with its faded charm that the singer holds so dear? It’s not because Juliette Gréco sometimes hides it under the sofa in her office or that she intermittently forgets it that she doesn’t care about it. The proof is that periodically the canvas is restored without its majesty, placed prominently on a fireplace. “In fact, we didn’t always pay much attention to it, comments Irmeli Jung, photographer and long-time friend of Juliette Gréco. A small format, not too ugly, but vague, with little color”, always placed opposite the direction of light. Out of frame, therefore.
When the painting disappears, the household rustles with the name of the culprit(s). To avoid embarrassment, we put it down to the age of its (forgetful) owner. But Juliette Gréco is in her right mind, she is on a farewell tour. In hindsight, some will see the beginnings of the stroke that will hit her in 2016, the same year when she lost her only daughter, Laurence Marie Lemaire, to cancer.
“There was a lot of traffic at her house and the painting acted like a magnet for some, says Julie-Amour Rossini, only granddaughter and heir of Juliette Gréco. As she didn’t like the constabulary very much, she preferred to send a press release to the AFP. » This contains an ultimatum: “I’ll give my thieves a few days to put him back where they found him, then I’ll launch the war machine! » And it works. Rapid, and miraculous, return to the fold of oil on canvas.
Post-impressionist style, Bonnard style
From the point of view of art history, the work is not of great importance, but it has some exceptional marks. Because it is signed Ginsburg, the real name of Serge Gainsbourg. Because it is one of the only paintings that the future singer, who dreamed of being a painter, did not destroy that day in 1958 when, understanding that he would not be a great artist, he burned most of his paintings. paintings. Because it depicts yet another Gainsbourg mystery. A piece of this mythology which, through books, broadcasts, collector’s boxes, films and exhibitions, we seem to know everything about, but which always surprises. The painting tells the story of Gainsbourg before the myth, before Jane, before Gainsbarre…
You have 85% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.