Chaim Soutine

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Notes on the tomb of Chaim Soutine, 1943
Cimetière du Montparnasse, Montparnasse Cemetery
Quartier du Montparnasse, 14th arrondissement
Paris, July 2014

“After years of poverty Soutine suddenly became famous in 1923 when Paul Barnes, a wealthy American collector, bought 60 of his paintings at once. He destroyed many more of his canvases in fits of depression and did not hold a major exhibition until 1927. As a Jew during the Nazi occupation of France Soutine was forced to go into hiding, and he died of a perforated ulcer because he could not get proper medical attention in time. His gentile mistress had him buried in a Christian grave at Montparnasse Cemetery to avoid suspicion. Today his paintings are worth millions.” (Chaim Soutine, Find a Grave)