| Medium: oil Size: 20" x 22" Title: Monet |
 IT WAS SILENT INSIDE AS WELL AS OUTSIDE IN THE CITY,
a silence which signified that we had suffered another terrible defeat by the public, by the press, and our adversaries at the Academie. Gradually, the numbers of the dissident painters were reduced as they donned their coats and hats, muttered gloomy farewells, and walked down the narrow stair corridor to the street. Monet, as usual, was one of the last to leave, extinguishing the lamps, and making sure the front door to the access stairway was firmly secured. As he performed these tasks, he mumbled angrily that he wouldn't be a bit surprised if the roughnecks from the Montmartre, hired by the bureaucrats at the Academie, those who had caused no end of problems, would come back to finish the vandalism which had begun on the first day of the exhibition. "They have shown themselves capable of anything," he said grimly, "and I expect their accomplices up at the Ecole won't be satisfied until they wipe us out completely by destroying everything they can get their hands on ......
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