Lilla Cabot Perry: The Giverny Years, Part II

"Eugenie in the Garden" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"The winter of 1905 which the family spent in Paris was a dreadful one for Lilla Cabot Perry, who suffered 'a near breakdown,' which her husband attributed to 'thirty years of insomnia.' It was true that she suffered from insomnia all her life, and she was also prone to headaches and fainting spells. Thomas Perry's own depressive states, however, and the family's uprooted lives certainly also accounted for her collapse that winter. 

There were many changes in Giverny, as the Perrys observed at the marvelous dinner at Monet's house honoring their return. Theodore Butler had remarried, following the tragic death of his first wife in 1899. The American colony was sprouting a new crop of talented artists, led by Frederick Frieseke, who was settled in with his wife in the Perrys' former residence next door to Monet. Guy Rose had returned with a charming new wife. Lawton Parker was also in residence. Edmund Graecen and Will Low joined the group in 1907.

Painting, as always, was Lilla's passion at Giverny and she limited her social visits to the Monet or Butler households. She also took memorable day trips with her husband to the Walter Gays' magnificent chateau, Le Breau, near Melun. The major change in her compositions of this time is the return of color to her palette. Lilla was sixty years of age when six of her paintings were exhibited in Paris at the Salon des Independants in 1908.  A prominent art periodical featured four of them with illustrations in its review of the event. Inasmuch as over 6,700 works were presented at the salon, this was high praise in the Paris press.

Ironically, her success coincided with her strong desire to return to Boston. This broke her husband's heart, for he was never more happy than in the stimulating intellectual atmosphere of France. Furthermore, he had also just renewed ties with his dearest childhood friend, Henry James. At her husband's insistence, Lilla agreed to postpone their departure for two more summers.

Their final summer in 1909 was spent in Giverny. It was a wet, dreary season during which Monet 'barely touched a brush' and was burning more canvases, to the despair of his family and dealer. Henry James remarked, 'Lilla must find her studies from nature a desperate business, when nature is all day long in the bath.' In November 1909 the Perrys sailed for America fully intending to return to France in a few years' time. They never did."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)