Gainsbourg, le livre du souvenir

Back cover

Gainsbourg. His passions, his scandals, his outbursts of anger. His ‘companions’: alcohol, tobacco. His muses: Bardot, Birkin, his daughter Charlotte. His early days at the ‘Milord l’Arsouille’ and his formative friendship with Boris Vian. There is what we know: the charm, the talent, the painful romances, the ambiguous impatience with death. And then?
This *Livre du Souvenir* reveals another side beneath the legend, beyond the grimaces and provocations. Beneath the sinister yet sentimental Don Juan lies a man who suffered throughout his life. Beneath the star, the artist, the musician obsessed with perfection. There is in Gainsbourg a sort of fervour in his disenchantment, exacerbated by fame. Even in the spotlight, his defiance, his revelry, his antics, are weighed down by bitterness. Melancholy lies just beneath the surface, despite his success.
With Bernard Pascuito, we set out to meet a stranger who had to come to terms with – but did he ever succeed? – his ugliness. We discover Lulu Ginzburg before he became Serge. His childhood in Pigalle during the Occupation. The yellow star. The clenched fists of adolescence. An artist, even then. A provocateur, always.
He had dreamt of becoming a painter, the equal of Klee or Bacon. By the age of 30, he knew he would be nothing more than a street performer. Having become a master of an art form he considered minor or secondary, he never fancied himself as Verlaine. Because he was so clear-sighted, people thought him cynical. He was ‘only’ Gainsbourg. The last minstrel?

Artist 1

• Serge Gainsbourg 1928 – 1991 · France

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first!