> This seems to be about how making a living as a painter is difficult. Eh? It's a review of a biography of the impressionist painter Claude Monet (whose "almo

> This seems to be about how making a living as a painter is difficult. Eh? It's a review of a biography of the impressionist painter Claude Monet (whose "almost [...] last written words were a shaky scribble in the autograph album of Paul Valéry’s daughter, Agathe: ‘All I can say is that painting is terribly difficult.’"), with some introductory remarks about severe corruption in the art scene ("that nexus of artist, dealer, critic and curator") which the author traces to the "critical mass" in that sector that arrived with the impressionists.