“I can see us still, seated at the kitchen table performing maneuvers with a squad of lead soldiers – and our fright when we heard my mother ring the bell.”
—Dr. Léon Vassaux, to Henri Matisse, 1949
Adorned with illustrations of red and blue flowers, this envelope was sent by Matisse to Dr. Léon Vassaux, his oldest childhood friend. Vassaux’s family lived next door to the Matisses, and as children, the two boys became inseparable; Léon was two years younger, the same age as Henri’s brother who had died, and perhaps in some sense took his place. The pair grew up together, partners in the typical mischievousness of boyhood: hopping over garden walls to avoid the shared violin teacher they both detested, operating a toy theater to which the fee of admission was a trouser button, and experimenting with chemicals borrowed from Henri’s father’s storeroom. As teenagers, they both moved to Paris for their studies. While Matisse honed his artistry at the Académie Julian and the École Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Léon began medical training at the Sorbonne. Despite their different trajectories, Léon would remain Henri's firm friend and follower – in times of crisis his most faithful supporter – for the rest of their lives.
Though Matisse had often lodged with Vassaux in his younger days as a struggling artist, more than fifty years after their student days in Paris, Vassaux visited Matisse at his Villa Le Rêve in Vence. Here, the two reverted to an easy, companionable intimacy, exchanging news, relaxing over good food, wine and music, recalling stories of their childhood and their student escapades on the Left Bank. Matisse’s partner Lydia said Vassaux released a side of Matisse—buoyant, jokey, uninhibited—he showed no one else. On his second trip to Vence, Vassaux brought with him Matisse’s first sculpture, a clay medallion of the girl Matisse had loved more than half a century before: Camille Joblaud, the artist’s once-girlfriend and mother of his eldest child, Marguerite, who was also Léon’s goddaughter.
Vassaux – who saw Matisse’s career at every stage – remained an invaluable confidant, supporter, and companion. Mailed just a year before Matisse’s passing in 1953, this envelope stands as a testament to the beautifully enduring, lifelong friendship between the two men.
