The Madman and the Customs Officer: A Conspiracy of Art
- Art d'Histoire
- May 28
- 3 min read
In 1875, amidst the chaotic atmosphere of the Hôtel Drouot auction house, Pierre-Auguste Renoir made an encounter that would change the destiny of his circle. He met a senior customs officer, Victor Chocquet, with modest resources but a devouring passion for art. While the press and the public were busy mocking the "daubs" of the avant-garde, Chocquet was building a remarkable collection. However, his enthusiasm faced a formidable domestic obstacle: his wife, Marie.
When Renoir agreed to paint Madame Chocquet’s portrait, the customs officer saw an opening for a delicate operation. He was desperate to acquire a specific nude study, The Bathers, by Paul Cézanne—a painter reviled by the critics and misunderstood even by the boldest collectors.
Chocquet devised a ruse: he purchased the painting from the colour merchant Père Tanguy but asked Renoir to bring it to his house and pretend it belonged to him. The plan was for Renoir to "forget" the canvas there upon leaving. This would allow Marie to get used to the strange image over time without the immediate shock of ownership. The stratagem was crowned with success; Madame Chocquet eventually tolerated the painting, unaware she was living with the work of Cézanne's first collector.
Kneeling Before Delacroix
Once the "Bathers" was accepted, Chocquet asked Renoir to bring the artist himself. Cézanne arrived at the apartment looking particularly rough, wearing an old cap borrowed from his friend Guillaumin. Yet, the connection was instant. The two men found common ground in their absolute worship of Eugène Delacroix.
Ambroise Vollard recounts a scene of touching fanaticism: the two men began by admiring the Delacroix paintings hanging on the walls, then moved to the drawers where the precious watercolours were kept away from the light.
As the furniture became cluttered, they moved to the floor. There, the customs officer and the painter spent the afternoon on their knees, passing the master's works back and forth with tears in their eyes. From that moment on, Chocquet was tireless. You could not discuss painting in front of him without him interjecting, "What about Cézanne?"
The Crusader of the Exhibitions
Chocquet’s devotion went beyond private collecting; he became a public defender of the Impressionists. At the early exhibitions, while crowds gathered to jeer and laugh at the canvases, Chocquet would stand his ground. He was described as a "charming and formidable" opponent, tireless in his efforts to shame the mockers and explain the "grandeur and tragedy" of Cézanne's work. He would almost forcibly drag recalcitrant amateurs to the paintings, using every ounce of his eloquence to convert them.
However, he was fighting a lonely battle. Even his close friends found his obsession with Cézanne to be a form of "mild madness." He once persuaded a wealthy friend, "Mr X," to accept a small study of apples as a gift. The friend, horrified that such a painting might "set a bad example" for his daughter, who was learning to draw, refused to hang it. Chocquet pleaded with him simply to keep it in a drawer and look at it occasionally. Years later, when Cézanne's prices skyrocketed, Mr X remembered the forgotten canvas at the bottom of his drawer and sold it immediately, remarking cynically, "If that madman Chocquet were still alive, how happy he would be to see it selling today!"
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