"Mon pays, pour la seconde fois ravagé... C'est bête et cruel ; comme la grande majorité est bête et accepte l'enventualité de la cruauté, rien d'étonnant que tout cela se produise..."

Autograph letter by Marcel Gromaire signed with his initials, addressed to a female friend, 25 lines in blue ink written from Aubusson.
Fold mark inherent to envelope insertion, small stains to upper and lower margins of the letter not touching the text.
Despairing over the stinging defeat befalling France, the painter takes refuge in work: "Je continue à travailler parce que c'est ma raison d'être, mais avec plus ou moins d'entrain" (I continue to work because it is my reason for being, but with more or less enthusiasm).
Marcel Gromaire is terrified by the corollaries of the French defeat before the armies of the Third Reich: "C'est bête et cruel ; comme la grande majorité est bête et accepte l'enventualité de la cruauté, rien d'étonnant que tout cela se produise..." (It is stupid and cruel; as the great majority is stupid and accepts the eventuality of cruelty, nothing surprising that all this happens...) and sets the imperative priorities for France's destiny: "Enfin pour l'instant il n'y a qu'une chose à tenter, c'est de détruire le monstre N°1. Je crains fort que son complice ne rende ton séjour en Corse un peu délicat, à moins que l'ignoble chantage ne continue..." (Finally for the moment there is only one thing to attempt, it is to destroy monster No. 1. I greatly fear that his accomplice may make your stay in Corsica somewhat delicate, unless the ignoble blackmail continues...).
The disillusioned and fatalistic painter concludes his letter with: "Idéologies ! Bah Landru aimait les femmes" (Ideologies! Bah, Landru loved women).