Lydia - The Good Angel by Henri Matisse

Lidia Delectorskaya happened upon the vacancy notice. In autumn 1932 she rang the bell of an unknown artist…

A Russian emigrant, a native of Tomsk, read an advertisement at a bus stop in Nice: An artist needs an assistant. Far from painting, Lydia Delectorskaya first saw and heard the then venerable artist Henri Matisse. At that time he was 63 years old, Lilia 22. After several months of working as a model for the grandiose panel “Dance”, Lydia left his workshop, but then the artist’s wife Amelie fell seriously ill, and the couple remembered leading Russian girl who invites her as a nurse.

Amelie didn’t feel threatened because she was sure that the artist didn’t like blonde girls. They didn’t like it… Until Lydia appeared in his life. She became everything to Matisse: a muse, a maid, a housekeeper. She became absolutely necessary to him in almost everything. The woman didn’t take it. Amelie Matisse went to her daughter in Paris, Henri and Lydia stayed alone.

Largely thanks to Lydia, Matisse lived a long life and was happy in his last years. In 1941 he was diagnosed with cancer, he practically could not walk, but lived 13 years and was actively creative. When the artist died in 1954, Lydia packed her things in one day and left his house forever.

Nobody invited her to the funeral. Throughout Lydia’s life in the Matisse home, the artist gave her his paintings twice a year (at Christmas and on her birthday). He understood that she would not get anything from his inheritance and wanted to at least somehow secure her life after his departure. Also, at some point Lydia, from her not very large salary that Matisse paid her, began to buy his drawings from him at a reasonable price.

At the time of the artist’s death, she had amassed a very decent collection of Matisse’s works which, if sold, could provide her with a life of luxury for the rest of her days. She has NOT sold ANY item from this collection. She donated all of her Matisse paintings to the Hermitage and Moscow’s Pushkin Museum.

All her life she lived very modestly and alone in a small Paris apartment, traveled by public transport, was the world’s most authoritative expert on the work of Matisse, but until the end of her life she categorically refused to give any interviews. She was also friends with the writer Konstantin Paustovsky and translated all 11 volumes of his works into French.

When Lydia was offered help, she replied: “If I need this help, I will go to him” – pointing a finger up. Apparently, such a day came when Lydia committed suicide at the age of 87. Her last will was a note with the words: “Please put Henri Matisse’s shirt next to me.”

Lydia Delectorskaya’s ashes rest in a regular cemetery in Pavlovsk. On the monument are the words of Picasso: “Matisse preserved her beauty for eternity”, as well as the text: “Muse. Friend. Secretary to Henri Matisse.

In 2009, one of Matisse’s paintings was auctioned at Christie’s for 32 million euros.

Source: cluber.com.ua

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