Missia, Queen of Paris, Part 3: Leading and Supporting, Supporting and Leading

A comfortable and beautiful apartment, a beloved and wealthy partner, a respectable status

In high society

Missia was courted and happy, with status, like Madame Verdourne. Edwards slightly reduced her allowance but she still lived comfortably. Edwards, who had meanwhile married Lentelam, did not renew the lease on the luxurious apartment on the rue de Rivoli that was coming to an end, so in 1911 Missia moved to 29 quai Voltaire, a pleasant apartment on the first floor, furnished with various kinds of luxury furniture, partitions from China, fans from Japan, from Venice, Renoir, Bonnard, a general impression of expensive rococo.

Missy had it good during that period. She had a wealthy lover, Russian artists, in addition to her old friends, came to visit her, her dressing table was never empty of invitations, to Bergson's lectures, to concerts, to plays, to masquerade balls.

Rezanne offered her to act in plays, but after a few attempts, Missia smiled and avoided them. The sculptor Aristide Meul sent her a letter and begged her to model for him in the nude to create a tribute to Cézanne (Monument à Cézanne) that he had commissioned for the city of Aix-en- Provence . Meul, who was not content, like Renoir, with a request to look at Missia's breasts but demanded to look at everything, refused outright. But he examined.

It is interesting to note, by the way, that the city of Aix rejected the statue that was eventually designed, thanks to Dina Virny and is now in the Musée d'Orsay . A lead copy of it can be seen in the Tuileries Garden.

How Misia saved “The Rite of Spring”

On the other hand, Misia immediately and wholeheartedly approved of “The Rite of Spring,” while Diaghilev was much less convinced. The proof of this is in Stravinsky’s letter of November 24, 1911, in which he recounted how Diaghilev had called him to Paris and how he had played what he had composed at this stage of “The Rite of Spring” in Madame Edwards’ salon.

That day, Stravinsky stayed with Missia, who understood what most listeners at the time could not understand: “The Rite of Spring” was a masterpiece. The chaotic rhythms and jarring harmonies completely captivated her, and the scandal of the premiere did not in the least damage her initial impressions. Stravinsky gave his soulmate Missia, who recognized the greatness of his work before anyone else, her original score with choreography instructions as a token of appreciation.

Diaghilev was horrified by the financial costs – one hundred and twenty rehearsals in which Nijinsky groped to interpret the complicated music and translate it into the language of the choreography, in front of four performances on stage. Advertising on one hand and profits on the other. The scandal made him famous all over the world, but financial debts could have led to the collapse of the company. This is why Diaghilev decided to omit parts of the ballet that was to be performed in London. Stravinsky was furious and Diaghilev felt, seeing that his authority was being undermined, deeply hurt by the rebellions against him.

Misia again tactfully played the role of mediator and spared no effort to prevent a rift between the producer (Diaghilev) and the creator (Stravinsky). Misia knew that the combination of Diaghilev, who feared that he had sacrificed everything for “The Rite of Spring,” and Stravinsky, who was furious that his work had been damaged, would lead to victory. Misia knew that this work was miraculous.

Her loyalty to Sergei and her love of Igor's music strengthened her spirit and she brought the conflict to an end with diplomacy, cleverness, and even cunning. Peace was restored between the agitated Diaghilev in London and the seething Stravinsky in Ostroh (Ukraine), where they were recovering from a bout of typhus in their family village home.

Missia as a French patriot during the war

The wave of patriotism that swept France with the outbreak of World War I did not pass Missia by, and on this occasion, too, she excelled in her exile with extraordinary resourcefulness and initiative. She used her position as a well-connected socialite wonderfully for the benefit of the country that had adopted her into its fold. The living room of her apartment hosted no less than Georges Clemenceau, Aristide Briand, Georges Mendel, Roland Garros, and many more of the leading players of the period, senior diplomats and their assistants, who met at her place.

And not only that. Missia devoted herself to the cause. She drove from hotel to hotel in her private car and collected sheets and towels in abundance for the Red Cross. The luxurious hotel on Place Vendôme where she rented a suite, Hôtel du Rhin, was, thanks to her, placed entirely at the disposal of the organization.

As a friend of General Glény, the military governor of Paris , she received permission to go to the front to bring first aid to the wounded. Knowing that the bikers had been forced to close their homes, she convinced them to give her their commercial vehicles and converted them into ambulances.

The strange convoy often aroused the suspicion of the sentries stationed on the roads: at the head of it was Missia's Mercedes, the driver wearing a diving suit, next to him sat Jean Cocteau in a gorgeous Brother Rahman outfit specially made for him for the occasion. Behind Missia in a tailored tweed suit and next to her Jojo (José Sert's lover) in light gray flared trousers, a clumsy Kodak camera on his lap, teasing Cocteau kindly, as was his custom. Behind the Mercedes were a dozen more cars borrowed from the Paris taxi drivers who were disabled by circumstances. No, these were not disguised spies but Missia's team traveling to collect the wounded! The sentries calmed down and let them pass.

Missia's elegant living room, silk, velvet, shell, silver and gold, under a chandelier of crystal icicles, seemed to have lost its luster, becoming a headquarters and a workshop. Doctors, stretcher bearers, artists, writers, poets, hunched over maps and planning the next roundup of the wounded, balls of wool from which socks and berets are knitted for soldiers everywhere.

Missia, on the front line, collects wounded and amputated people, including Germans, loads them onto the vehicle, encourages her colleagues under the barrage of fire to descend into the craters left by the shells. And returns the next day and the following days. Hundreds of wounded people look at her pleadingly, there is no room in the vehicle for everyone, how can one choose? And in addition, an order has arrived to collect the wounded and bring them to Paris at night so that the truth does not harm the mood of the residents. In the dark, on uncomfortable roads, with damaged signage, in the face of horror. Missia is exhausted after difficult, sleepless nights.

Without the tireless energy and infectious cheerfulness of Jean Cocteau, Missia would not have survived, and he, who saw her as a wartime heroine, admired her without reservation. In 1923, when he wrote the novel Thomas l'Imposteur, Missia naturally became Princess Clémence de Bourme, who devoted herself to the wounded and turned her home into a hospital.

A magical break in Switzerland

Misia and Jose joined Diaghilev and his new dancer, Leonid Massin, who had filled Nijinsky's place, in Rome. From there, by car, they visited Bologna, Ravenna, Padua, and Verona until they reached Lausanne. Diaghilev and Massin settled in a spacious villa on the lake shore, paved with marble and immersed in a park of shrubs and flowers. It was the first time, since Diaghilev had left Russia, that he had lived in a real house and not in a hotel.

Misia and José stayed at a hotel, close to Diaghilev’s villa where he and his troupe were rehearsing and rehearsing new works. It was a pleasure to rest in the good mountain air and in the calm atmosphere of everything that was not war. But Misia experienced her greatest happiness in Stravinsky’s modest home when he played “The Peasant Marriage” for her. Misia begged him to “be Russian,” and he did as she asked.

Diaghilev did not give birth to Stravinsky's genius but he discovered it to the world and demanded, as usual, exclusivity. Stravinsky did not submit to Diaghilev's possessiveness but the rift between the two was mainly on financial grounds. Diaghilev did not pay and Stravinsky, a patient in the family, was often forced to ask Missia to talk to Diaghilev about the matter. Missia mediated between the producer and the musician very successfully and sometimes gave him money from her own pocket. Missia understood Igor's (Stravinsky's) side but always defended Serge (as Sergei was called by the French).

Misia and Serge were friends in heart and soul. Diaghilev needed her friendship and judgment regarding his artistic intuitions and enthusiasms. Misia shared her opinions with him with great sincerity, but when she wanted to promote those she wanted to promote, she was sickeningly cunning.

“Parade”, a dance work by Cocteau, Satie, Massine, Picasso

In Switzerland, the revolutionary dance piece “Parade” was completed, based on an idea by Jean Cocteau, who wrote the text. Missia tried to persuade Diaghilev, who was not enthusiastic about sharing it with Cocteau, and this time she succeeded. She also brought Diaghilev together with Erik Satie, who was then only appreciated among elite circles, including Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky. Diaghilev heard his playing and responded to Missia’s enthusiasm by agreeing to stage a ballet by Satie.

Cocteau convinced Picasso to create the scenography (set, costumes, screen), and Massine was entrusted with the choreography. And so, after numerous intrigues behind the scenes, which were similar to the circus acts on stage, the audience attended the long-awaited performance on May 18, 1917, at the “Théâtre de la Chatelet” in Paris.

Pablo Picasso, Ballet Curtain “Parade”, 1917. Image source: Centre Pompidou website

“Parade” caused another scandal in the eyes of Missia, who recalled that of “King Oboe” and “The Rite of Spring.” Why are typewriter clicks included in the music? Is this a new instrument? And gunshots? And sirens? What are these noises in the music? And why are circus stories suddenly being brought up during wartime? Is it appropriate to have fun now? Unpatriotism is condemnable! Boos alongside applause: And weren’t the proceeds dedicated to the war wounded? Respect for the original show!

The show was defined as a “realist ballet” by Jean Cocteau, but in the program, Apollinaire invented a new word, “surrealism,” intended to denote the magical fusion of scenery, plot, music, and dance whose poetic reality reduced reality itself to nothing, in his opinion. Surrealism’s birth certificate was issued! “Parade,” a key avant-garde, groundbreaking work, influenced generations of artists and has not yet said the last word.

Missia's Many Suitors

Missia, forty-five years old, courted and adored, host and guest, a celebrity of the highest order! The lucky girl divided her time between her apartment on the Quai Voltaire and the elegant Le Meurice hotel, overlooking the Tuileries Garden, the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysées . The shortage of coal prompted her to occasionally stay in the luxurious hotel to enjoy the heating there, but Missia had previously liked to diversify her residence in several different places.

Missia's admirers came from all walks of life. Roland Garros, the legendary pilot and war hero, took her on a flight and tried to impress her with aerial acrobatics. Missia was seized with the fear of God and it took her many days to recover. Garros was subsequently captured by the Germans, escaped from the camp after three years and arrived in France in poor health and poor eyesight. His friends asked him not to fly again, but he insisted and lost his life.

The diplomat and writer Paul Morand, a young, handsome and elegant socialite, dedicated many amusing portraits to her in his book “Diary of an Embassy Attaché,” which he wrote between 1916 and 1917. A short quote, for example:

I admire in Missia the joy of life hidden under a constant bad mood, the deep balance against a backdrop of despair. And besides, Missia is Missia, there is no equal to her, and as Proust says, a monument. Missia will be more important in the history of good taste and art in Paris than all the Du Deffands and all the imbeciles of the 18th century.

Note: Madame du Depan was, as is well known, a socialite, owner of a cultural salon, a friend of Voltaire and other personalities, a writer, letter writer, and a respected and well-known intellectual.

Among her admirers were the young poets Max Jacob, Saint-Jean-Prés, Pierre Reverdy. Missia supported the latter's castigatory journal, "North-South", named after the new metro line that connected Montmartre and Montparnasse, the two centers of creativity in Paris. With her characteristic discreet generosity, Missia gave the modest poet sums of money for the purpose of comparing poetic and literary theories (his own, Apollinaire's, Max Jacob and later André Breton, Louis Aragon, Philippe Soupeau) with reflections on Cubism (Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Joan Miró). Tristan Tsara and Dadaism also enjoyed exposure in the journal.

Missia was very fond of Pierre Reverdi, the melancholic and mystical poet who hid behind the scenes and financed his famous retreats at the Abbey of Solemnes, from which he sent her longing love letters. But Missia, who used to say, “I have only had husbands, never lovers,” introduced him to her good friend Coco Chanel , who herself had many lovers and rejected husbands. Chanel had no difficulty adding him to the list, for a real rather than imaginary relationship.

Missia and Mademoiselle Chanel

At a party at the actress Cecile Sorel's, Missia met Mademoiselle Chanel and was enamored with the fashion designer, who was ten years younger than her and who was not yet famous. Strange as it may seem, Chanel, like all the "service providers" of that period, was not invited to high society social events. Missia opened doors for her, introduced her to her friends, insisted that her new friend receive the treatment she deserved. In 1920, while on vacation in Venice, Missia threw a ball in Chanel's honor to which the entire European elite was invited. When the trio returned to Paris, no one ignored Chanel anymore.

Jojo was very surprised by Missia's extraordinary infatuation with Chanel. Missia no longer wanted to part with the charming woman who seemed to have cast a spell on her. A psychoanalytic explanation? In the young and silent Chanel, Missia instinctively recognized a figure similar to her father, a tyrant who had to be charmed, confronted, and subdued, like Edwards, Sert, Diaghilev. Missia always sought to enslave and enslave, modeled on her relationship with her father, Cyprian Godewsky, from whom she never freed herself until the day she died. Cyprian Godewsky, Alfred Edwards, José Sert, Serge Diaghilev, Gabriel Chanel – this is the quintet that dominated the symphony of her life.

Jojo and Misia took Chanel on trips to Italy, especially for holidays in Venice. Jojo was a gentleman, noble, devoted and generous, paid all expenses and acted as a guide to cultural affairs. Chanel enjoyed it but found him too hairy, too fat, too cunning and too Renaissance. She also did not like his paintings but at Misia's request she kept quiet. Misia introduced her to Diaghilev's circle and Jojo explained to her the secrets of art – Chanel gained much from this apprenticeship.

Also a lot of money and expansion of activity and advertising. By a peculiar coincidence, Missia's initiative formed the basis of Chanel's perfume industry. What was, was, and is. One day Missia received the private secretary of the Empress Eugénie, wife of the recently deceased Napoleon III, Lucien Daudet, the youngest son of Alphonse. Covered in violet perfume, after sorting through the papers of his beautiful employer, whom he admired without reservation, he told Missia that he had found among them an extraordinary document: a cosmetic recipe that promised eternally youthful skin from the perfumer of Catherine de Medici! Lucien Daudet wanted to convert the find into money.

You will receive 6000 francs, I promise! Missia rushed to Chanel, why not launch a product called “Me Chanel”, after the secret of the Italian perfumer René le Florentin, who guaranteed the clear skin of Catherine de Medici , Diane de Poitiers and Marie de Medici? Chanel, a sorceress who knew how to extract gold from sand, provided the sand was of good quality, seized the opportunity. “Me Chanel” was a success beyond all expectations. The road to Chanel 5 and the rest of the perfumes was paved by the faithful company, Missia Sert.

Third marriage to José Sert, 1920-1927

On August 2, 1920, Misia and José were married, after twelve years of living together, at the Saint Roch Church, at 296 rue Saint Honoré. The groom was 45 years old, single, while the woman was 48 years old, twice divorced.

The groom used to say that Misia was the only woman who could understand and tolerate him. Misia saw the parade of women that José, an incurable Don Juan, seduced into adventures and put up with his chronic infidelity. As the painter’s biographer, Alberto del Castillo, put it, “José Sert was accustomed to paying passionate, powerful and multifaceted homage to the cult of feminine beauty, always and without interruption, throughout his life.”

Misia was confident in her relationship with Jojo and optimistic about the future. She truly admired the works of a film artist who painted huge frescoes and decorated cathedrals in a bombastic style. Everyone laughed at his lack of talent, but Misia and he were a winning team who, with the help of marketing and combinations, cunning and sophisticated tricks, managed to receive orders from all over the world. Misia hoped to tie Jose to her more and more with the marketing services she provided him, but she was wrong in her judgment.

José Serret's art had, however, admirers, and not just admirers, Gide, Claudel, Proust, and others. His works were also popular with the upper class because they gave a grandiose atmosphere to the reception, ballroom, and music halls and their staircases in Barcelona, ​​Paris, London, Belgium, Italy, Capri, Buenos Aires, New York, Palm Beach, Long Island.

Sert's reputation spread and grew until it also adorned public buildings: Barcelona City Hall, the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Rockefeller Center in New York. The Waldorf Astoria Hotel in that city paid more than half a million dollars (in today's money) for frescoes for the ballroom called the "Sert Hall" (removed only in 1970). Was José Sert the painter, Misia's husband, the reincarnation of Cyprian Godewsky the sculptor, her father?

After their marriage, Jojo and Misia went with Chanel on a vacation to Venice where they met with Diaghilev and his group. From there, England, Switzerland, Romania, Constantinople, Tunis, Egypt. Sert came to South America several times and in 1924, for the first time, with Misia, to New York for the great exhibition of his paintings, which was a huge success, at the Wildenstein Gallery. Sert went to Spain three or four times a year, often accompanied by Misia.

Leading and supporting

When they returned to Paris, José and Misia took up residence in a suite at the Hôtel Le Maris, which José filled with heavy furniture and ostentatious ornaments, marble, seashell, shining crystal, black lacquer, green malachite stones, before the admiring eyes of his wife. She is more than ever the queen of the cultural life of Paris, about whom nothing is said.

In her own way, she enthusiastically nurtured young artists, betting on their talent, this time the composers Francis Poulenc, Darius Miu, and Georges Auric. Thanks to her intervention, in 1924 Diaghilev produced dance works for his company based on scores by the three. The choreography was by Bronislava Nijinsky, Nijinsky's sister:

1. “The Hinds” (Les Biches), Poulenc, set by Mary Laurence.

2. “The Blue Train” (Le Train bleu), Miu, costumes by Chanel.

3. “The Unpleasant” (Les Fâcheux), Auric, set by Georges Braque.

It was in Missia's salon where Darius Millau played "Man and His Desire" (L'homme et son désir) for Diaghilev's trial, according to a libretto by Paul Claudel (for whom Darius was his secretary in Rio de Janeiro). It was in the same salon where Maurice Ravel played "The Waltz" before Diaghilev, a choreographic poem dedicated to Missia.

The latter fought as a librettist for Ravel, but Diaghilev rejected the production of the work, which was not a dance, according to him. Diaghilev was wrong (a mistake that led to the severance of relations between him and the composer) just as he was wrong with Darius Millau's sensual work, "Man and His Passion." However, under the influence of Missia, Diaghilev, as mentioned, commissioned Millau to produce the ballet "The Blue Train" (libretto by Jean Cocteau), which was staged at the "Théâtre des Champs-Élysées" on June 20, 1924.

Chanel is increasingly involved in Missia's life.

During this period, Missia and Chanel's friendship grew stronger despite their differences in personality. Missia was monogamous but looked with admiration at Chanel's many romantic relationships. Some say that the turbulent relationships of Missia and Coco, who were never separated, were also a couple. Some deny it, there is no way to know.

In any case, Chanel criticized Missia for telling Igor Stravinsky that she preferred Grand Duke Dimitri to him. Stravinsky and Chanel were having an affair and she was supposed to join him in Spain. But at the last minute she decided to go with Grand Duke Dimitri to Monte Carlo. Chanel claimed that Missia had told Igor about the betrayal. Missia denied it. Igor was so furious that Diaghilev warned Chanel: “Igor will kill you!”

Chanel envied Missia's relationship with Diaghilev and secretly supported him financially, out of generosity, yes, but also out of competition for Missia's soulmate and a desire to be a cultural influencer like her. Diaghilev took advantage of all the opportunities and opened the post-war season in 1920 with great success.

The dance work by composer Manuel de Payel, “The Tricorne,” stood out in particular. Leonid Massin quickly learned the techniques of Spanish dance and impressed with its style, movements, leaps, and somber beauty. De Payel’s music thrilled with its hectic rhythm. Picasso’s magnificent costumes, combined with the setting in subtle tones (a rainbow in pink and ochre against a blue sky), completed the picture.

The triumph of the first performance continued afterwards with a celebration at Misia's house, Arthur Rubinstein played De Paille, Picasso drew a crown of laurel leaves on his bald head with Misia's eyebrow pencil, and everyone ate, drank, hugged and kissed, in a Spanish atmosphere, of course.

Picasso, in a tuxedo that dazzled his fiery eyes, was a favorite of women but showed a special affection for Missia. She was already, by his choice, his wedding attendant to the troupe dancer Olga Khokhlova and the godmother of their son Paulo. Picasso, however, despised the art of her partner, Sert, and the latter reciprocated, but Missia was shrewd enough to understand that comparing Sert's academicism to Picasso's originality would be like comparing her father, Cyprien Godewsky, to Auguste Rodin.

Cyprian Godewsky, statue of the muse Calliope on the tomb of Théophile Gautier in Montmartre, 1875. Image source: Wikimedia

A few years earlier, in 1917, Max Jacob had brought the shy and quiet fourteen-year-old Raymond Radiguet to Missia. He had six years left to live, during which he wrote his two famous novels. In the second, he described the masquerade balls held by Missia's friends Étienne and Édith de Beaumont, who appear in the novel as the Count and Countess d'Orgel. All the participants were part of Missia's entourage, who cared for Raymond Radiguet until his last breath. She and Chanel spent time at his bedside, where he suffered excruciating pain, and organized his funeral.

With or without Chanel, Missia is Missia.

The Polish painter Józef Czapski and his friends also benefited from the support of Misia, who organized an unforgettable jazz ball for them on a ship docked on the Seine. The electricity went out and Misia, unfazed, put candles in empty wine bottles. The wind and rain, which rocked the ship, added to the wild mood. The participants celebrated and went wild for a whole week in the floating nightclub and bought paintings from poor immigrants. Art, pleasure and profit came together on Misia's initiative.

And he always helped Diaghilev. When Stravinsky played them the buds of “Les Noces” on a narrow piano in his tiny room in Morges, Switzerland in 1913, they both cried. Ten years later, when he conducted the orchestra that played “Les Noces” in its finished version at the luxurious home of Prince Edmond de Polignac and his wife Winnie in Paris in 1923, they cried again. It was a private hearing before the premiere for the dancers to get used to the original and complicated score. Bronislava Nijinska’s choreography was skyrocketing.

The crowning glory of Diaghilev's social success was the gala evening he organized in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles . The Parisian and international elite paid their best, and the proceeds were all dedicated to the renovation of the palace. Diaghilev spent three whole days on the event.

Serge, with Missia at his side, smiling and relaxed, received the distinguished guests, President Ramon Poincaré and the members of the cabinet, the diplomatic corps, the cultural figures, the influential. Those present were not disappointed as they left the place, through the torch-lit avenues of the courtyard, enchanted, in ecstasy.

The spectacle that Diaghilev produced was, indeed, impressive. An actor wearing a wig and a blue velvet cape, resplendent with fleur-de-lis, descended the steps to the edge of the stage to the sounds of a 17th-century melody. The trail of his cape expanded and spread, covering the space, and then the dancers burst into it in Tchaikovsky’s “Polanda.”

Diaghilev revived the days of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Louis XIV. Missia and Serge were the king and queen of the evening. “Will you marry me?” Missia joked. “How could I marry my sister?” Serge replied in the same playful spirit.

This concludes Part C of the article. In Part D, The Second Half of Life , we will read about the end of Missia's third marriage, in a remarkably similar manner to her second marriage, and we will follow her final years until her death.

This article is the third in a series of four articles about Misia Sert.

To read Part D, click on the link above, in the previous paragraph.

To return to the introduction and read all the articles, click on this link.

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