Catalogue entry

• Figure composition: 
  • party »
  • music »
• Landscape: 
  • night »
• Inspiration: 
  • Debussy, Claude »

This homage bears witness to the admiration the artist had for Debussy, which René Massé confirms in his journal: "[…] in his room, portrait of Chopin by Delacroix, Debussy, several of Maurice Rollinat, […] Has a record library […] "Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Bizet. […]"¹ Yet Smit does not merely pay visual homage to the composer: he paints a festive scene with musicians and a crowd, amid tricolour flags and lanterns. At the centre of the composition, a young girl rushes towards the crowd with a certain vigour, introducing a lively movement into the scene. A single poster, bearing the inscription "Hommage à mon très cher maître Claude Debussy" (Tribute to my dearest master Claude Debussy), transforms the festivities into a tribute to the composer. The dedication thus invites the viewer to imagine, behind this festive scene, the melody of the Petite Suite.
One of the titles given to the work, La fête du 14 juillet, together with its tricolour decoration, indicates that it is also an evocation of the French national holiday. This reference takes on a particular significance in 1941: under the Vichy regime, the 14th of July had, since the summer of 1940, been reduced to a day of mourning and remembrance, with very limited and controlled ceremonies. At the same time, the date retained a strong symbolic significance for those who defended republican values and was notably appropriated by the Resistance movements.²
In the absence of precise information about Smit’s political views during the Occupation, it would nevertheless be excessive to regard this work as an explicit political statement against the Vichy regime. The juxtaposition of the homage to Debussy and the imagery of the 14th July can simply be understood as a way of giving the work a significance that extends beyond the musical tribute alone. The depiction of a festive scene in tricolour hues in the midst of the Occupation may thus constitute a form of symbolic coding, or even bear witness to a profound attachment to his adopted country. Yet beneath this apparent celebration there is also a profound sense of nostalgia: the figures of the musicians, imbued with sadness, seem to convey the weight of the political situation and the pain of a world disrupted by war. For Smit, whose nostalgia is a recurring theme, this scene may thus be understood as an evocation of a pre-war life that has now disappeared.

1. "[…] dans sa chambre, portrait de Chopin par Delacroix,/ Debussy, plusieurs de Maurice Rollinat, […] Possède une discothèque […] Beethoven, du Chopin,/ Debussy, Bizet.[…]" (Massé 1920-1935, p. 13 & 14); see also Inspirations: Poets and Composers.
2. On the status of 14 July under the Vichy regime and its symbolic reappropriation by the Resistance, see in particular Musée de la Résistance en ligne, “14 juillet 1941”.