Valentine de Saint-Point - Move To Paris

Move To Paris

The young 24-year-old widow moved to Paris where she reestablished her relationship with Charles Dumont, future minister of the Third Republic. The couple married June 20, 1900 at City Hall in Paris's 1st arrondissement. In 1902, she organized a literary salon where she rubbed shoulders with Gabriele D'Annunzio, who is nicknamed "the muse purple", Rachilde, Natalie Clifford Barney, Paul Fort, Gabriel Tarde, who saw her as "an amiable madness of nature," Mucha and Auguste Rodin, for whom she posed, as well as other artists and politicians. Her friendship with the famous sculptor had importance in his artistic life, as evidenced by their correspondence. He called her the "goddess of the flesh of his inspiration in marble". She celebrated his work with poems (The Thinker and His Hands published in Poems of Pride in 1908) and an article, The dual Personality of Auguste Rodin, published in La Nouvelle Revue in November 1906. Rodin was often the guest of honor at her parties, contributing by his presence to make them prestigious.

In 1903, during a seance, which were in vogue at the time, she met Ricciotto Canudo, an Italian poet and writer born in Bari in 1877. Shortly thereafter, she filed for divorce, which was delivered on 20 January 1904. Several reasons for the divorce were circulated, including the fact that she posed almost nude for Mucha and Rodin, and the courtship of Canudo. The applicant said that she wanted to pursue her artistic vocation, and that she wanted to live independently. She took the name of Valentine Saint-Point and began a common-law relationship with Canudo, who actively supported her literary debut.