Inspirations

Poetry, Music, and the Emotional Drive of Art

In three letters to his friend René Massé, Philippe Smit gave voice to the artist's perennial struggle between vision and execution, doubt and inspiration:

"I am afraid of not being able to translate what I feel, because what a difference it makes to the dream when you have to give it a face."
(PS to René Massé, 1 October 1919)

"It is not enough to paint, but to know how to create the emotions we receive from nature, and therein lies the secret of the artist's soul."
(PS to René Massé, 22 May 1928)

"There are a thousand styles, and there is the one born of emotion, which is the real one, without which there can be no real work."
(PS to René Massé, 24 July 1920)

As a young man with limited formal education, Smit was introduced to music and poetry by the Urban family, who took him in and supported him for many years. These two closely intertwined arts would continue to shape his thinking and nourish his work. His preference leaned toward composers and poets of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

"I've changed a lot recently, I've read a lot [...] especially modern poets, Tristan Corbière [...] Paul Fort, Maeterlinck, Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarmé [...]" he wrote on 6 November 1915.¹ Though not all of these poets appear to have directly influenced his oeuvre, Smit’s devotion to poetry remained constant and inspired around twenty of his paintings.

Among the writers who left a more discernible mark was Maurice Rollinat (fig. 1), a post-Baudelairean poet and composer from Berry, whose lyrical and musical works captivated Smit. He was introduced to Rollinat through his friend Anton Zelling², a fervent admirer of the poet. Smit’s enthusiasm was immediate: "Ah! how I love Rollinat"³ "This music of Rollinat haunts me more and more [...] what a great poet".⁴
Although Smit was deeply spiritual, he drew inspiration for several of his paintings⁵ from Rollinat, a writer distant from religious concerns, infusing them with his own mystical and dreamlike sensibilities.
This admiration culminated in Rollinat Playing the Piano [PS 190].

"I have a large portrait of Marijke, of a strange and rare composition, reminiscent of some of Baudelaire's poems."⁶
The work [PS 196], now only known from a photograph, is characterised by a subtle and faint Baudelaire tone which is later clearly accentuated by the trauma of the Second World War and the exodus to Pau in Paris Nostalgia [PS 486] from 1941. This pastel directly references two sonnets from Les fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil), their verses visible on a poster overlooking the cityscape⁷ - an overt homage to Baudelaire’s enduring influence.
Philippe Smit's artistic endeavours are driven by a profound emotional range, encompassing deep affection for the young woman as well as the sadness and dismay associated with the Occupation.

Of the poets listed in his 1915 letter, only two—Verlaine and Mallarmé—can be directly linked to his paintings.
Verlaine, whom Smit described:  "Oh God, what a great poet⁸ [...] who makes you feel the infinite with just a few words⁹", served as the inspiration for the large pastel Fête [PS 198], a visual translation of Clair de lune (Moonlight) from Fêtes galantes, which had also been set to music by Debussy.
Mallarmé (fig. 2), to whom Smit paid repeated homage, inspired four paintings in the 1920s, three¹⁰ of which incorporate verses from the poems Sainte and Soupir (Sigh), the latter set to music by Ravel and Debussy in 1913. The fourth painting, L’après-midi d’un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun) [PS 329], is based on Mallarme’s most famous work and echoes Debussy’s musical interpretation of the poem. Smit's addition of a centaur holding Apollo’s lyre reinforces the artist's conviction in the union of poetry and music as a pathway to beauty.

Philippe Smit’s musical tastes, as revealed by his correspondence and René Massé’s diary¹¹, were eclectic. He enjoyed rumba, rhythmic jazz, Argentinean melodies and their castanets, and the compositions of Rollinat. Yet it was classical music that truly moved him.

He appreciated Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Albeniz, Mussorgsky and others.

He often lamented the absence of his friend Anton Zelling and the musical gatherings such as the "Laren Musical Days". Those who heard Zelling perform insisted that they had never heard "a pianist give as much soul", not even Cortot, although he was "more technical for sure".¹² On one such evening, 17 April 1921¹³, Zelling performed César Franck’s Le chasseur maudit (The Accursed Huntsman), a symphonic poem based on an old German ballad.¹⁴
A decade later, Philippe Smit created a study of this subject [PS 380], though he never developed it further.

A reproduction of Delacroix’s portrait of Chopin (fig. 3) adorned the artist’s bedroom¹⁵, and recordings of Chopin’s compositions were among the earliest additions to his personal musical library from 1929 onwards.
In 1935 the sculptor and family friend, Noël Tinayre¹⁶, created a head of Chopin (fig. 4) "for his dear Phillipe", said to have been kept in Smit’s studio.
His 1924 tribute pastel [PS 245] depicts the composer with angelic, somewhat feminised features; while the preparatory sketch [PS 373] retains Chopin’s likeness.

Claude Debussy shared this place of honour. Like Chopin, his portrait was displayed in Smit’s bedroom, and his music featured prominently in the painter’s collection. It is evident, however, that Debussy was the most significant and inspirational musician for Smit.
The extent to which Smit’s desire to illustrate L’après-midi d’un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun) was influenced by Mallarmé or Debussy, as he held both in high regard, is challenging to determine. This is not the case in the jubilant illustration of Debussy's Petite suite [PS 480] of which the first two movements are inspired by Verlaine's Fêtes galantes. This joyous celebration of 14 July 1941 is a rare instance in his work of a political allusion.
The text on the poster on the wall, "Hommage à mon très cher maître Claude Debussy (Tribute to my very dear master Claude Debussy)", echoes what the painter wrote to his father on 6 November 1917: "The great Debussy, his art moves me to the very depths of my being".¹⁷

In 1942, Smit created Danse extatique (Ecstatic Dance) [PS 493], inspired by a passage from the mystery play Le martyre de saint Sébastien. This work completes a rich, emotionally charged series of paintings shaped by Smit’s enduring love of music and poetry—two disciplines he tirelessly wove into the fabric of his visual expression.

  1. PS, ALS to Massé, n. d. [6 November 1915], p. 2-3.
  2. See biographical note Anton Zelling.
  3. Philippe Smit 1919a.
  4. Philippe Smit 1919c, p. 2.
  5. [PS 175], [PS 192], [S 207], [PS 217], [PS 232], [PS 235], [PS 239], [PS 257], [PS 421].
  6. Philippe Smit 1922.
  7. Voir notes [PS 486].
  8. PS, ALS to Nicolaas et Berendina Urban, n.d. [avant 1914], private archives, Paris.
  9. PS, ALS to Massé , 27 novembre 1914
10. [PS 224], [PS 231], [PS 239].
11. René Massé 1920-1935.
12. Ibid., 22 June 1930, p. 16.
13. Ibid., 17 April 1921, p. 5.
14. See also [PS 206].
15. Ibid., 10 November 1929, p. 13.
16. Son of the prolific author Marcelle Tinayre.
Noël Tinayre also made a bust of Lotty (see René Massé 1934-35, 9 November 1934 and biographical note Charlotte Urban) and a sculpture of Miriam Pitcairn, Theodore and Marijke Pitcairn's eldest daughter, of which the Bibliothèque Marguerite Durand, Paris, keeps a photograph in the Fonds Tinayre.
17. Philippe Smit 1917, p. 3.