the Painter Quotes

Young Claudio and his best friend the Painter spend hours playing backgammon and talking about everything from art to love to politics. One day Claudio comes home to find that his friend has died.

His friend had lived upstairs, where Claudio had visited him almost every day; this man had encouraged Claudio’s artistic bent, and talked with him about about life, art, and politics. A

After the painter kills himself, leaving a note that does little to explain why he does not want to live any longer, Claudio can naturally think of nothing else except the infernal “Why?”

His question is partially answered by the man’s married mistress; he no longer wanted to live because “he would never be a great painter.”

Written with remarkable, sustained intensity, this novel tells how Claudio slowly sorts though his intense feelings and comes to an uneasy peace with the fact of his friend’s death.