weird early Matisse incident

Now rereading Hillary Spurling’s massive two-volume biography of Matisse. About five years ago I reached page 165 or so and then became distracted and dropped it, but now I’ll finish it off in the near future.

I’d completely forgotten a weird incident from when Matisse was 17 and not yet painting. He was sent from the north to Paris (a rare event) to visit a cousin. They went to a performance at the Opéra comique. Just as the curtain was going up, the scenery caught fire, and there was a stampede.

Matisse and his cousin became separated in the crowd. When Matisse reached the exit, there were already 30 bodies piled up against the door. Somehow he found an alternative route and escaped. He bought himself a drink in front of the opera and then walked back to the home of his cousins, who had seen the fire from afar and were furious that he had saved himself but not his cousin. But then his cousin showed up safe a few minutes later, and harmony was restored.

More than 400 people were killed in the fire, which occurred in 1887.