Paul ELUARD - Souvenirs de la maison des fous Lot n° 1038 bis

Our volume is one of the most touching of the sale. Not only is it Paul Eluard's own personal copy (a unique off-sale item), but Eluard has dedicated it (sent) to his publisher and friend René Bartelé: "To René Bertelé, his old friend, Paul Eluard".  This notebook of "poems" (poem-drawings) is a poignant testimony to the "immersion" of reason in the ocean of madness. Gaston Ferdière discovers the artistic language of madmen (lots 44 to 54) when Paul Eluard pays a poetic tribute to these madmen.  "In November 1943, threatened for his clandestine activities, Paul Eluard had to leave Paris. He found refuge with Lucien Bonnafé, doctor and director of the Saint-Alban public asylum. In spite of the Occupation, he blew a wind of freedom and humanism in this place perched on the Margeride, at an altitude of nine hundred metres. Eluard spent months hidden among the insane. Deeply moved by his stay in Saint-Alban, Eluard wrote this long poem composed of a prologue, six portraits and an epilogue, which restores the still vivid memory of his encounters with the madmen. This text, imbued with sincere empathy, echoes the echoes of distinct voices: the poet's voice in the face of the impenetrable mystery of the lost spirit, "singing death to the tunes of life", or that of madmen prey to hallucinations, absences or rare flashes of lucidity.  In the summer of 1945, Cécile, Eluard's daughter, went to Saint-Alban accompanied by her future husband, the painter Gérard Vulliamy. Living among the insane - an experience which, he said, had forever changed his view of others - Vulliamy painted their portraits. This book shows her line drawings in front of Eluard's poem, offering a most poignant and realistic dialogue. This very beautiful poem-object is of an indisputable rarity. "(Gallimard)  Poem III :  "The face rotten with waves of sadness  Like a very precious wood in the thick forest She gave the rats the end of her ol