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one of the fruit and the be vase. I told him I wanted a painting that would go with it in my dining room, and I said, “Would you undertake to do this?” in my very bad French, thinking that he would argue with me and say he wouldn't. He said, “Oui.” His response was so fast I was totally taken off guard and I didn't know what to say next because my French is not resourceful.

So I said, in my French, “Mr. Matisse, who do you think is the best young painter in France?” And he said, “Moi, jusqu'ici.” He was then 83 years old. He died about two months later. He never did the painting.

But I thought it was divine. He was dressed in a marvellous white robe, had a long gray beard, and when asked who was the best young painter in France, he was still the best young painter in France. Isn't that marvellous?

What did you do in lieu of his painting?

It's just a beautiful window, like this, and it looks out on a beautiful scene with a little broock running through the landscape. It's such a pretty landscape it's really better than having the Matisse.

You know, nothing is more terrible than to have an unsuccessful order from a painter. If he'd seen it, he might have done something quite different -- smaller in scale and less vivid in color. It was orange and blue, very sharp. I offered it