49 - Anna Diriks (Swedish, 1870–1932)

Anna Diriks (Swedish, 1870–1932) Orpheus Enchanting the French Ballads, 1911 Ink, oil pastel, wash, watercolor, and white highlights. Height 50, Width 37 cm. Provenance: collection of Laurent Danchin (1946–2017), writer, essayist, and art critic, passed down through the family. Bibliography: reproduced in Volume XXIV (January–February–March 1911) of the journal *Vers et Prose* in memory of the banquet held in honor of Paul Fort on Thursday, February 9, 1911. "Their Parisian studio, meanwhile, became one of the nerve centers of Montparnasse’s modern era. Paul Fort (1872–1960) established the headquarters of the Symbolist journal *Vers et Prose* at 18 Rue Boissonade between 1905 and 1914. Edvard Diriks contributed to it in 1906 with a translation of the Swedish poem “Hymn to the Moon” by Oscar Levertin. The magazine’s first secretary, André Salmon (1881–1969), said he drew inspiration from Diriks for the character of the King of the North in his poem “La Marche nuptiale,” published in 1907 in the collection *Les Fééries* by *Vers et Prose*. He reportedly recalled a tongue-in-cheek nomination of “Edvard I” to the throne of Norway at the time of the country’s separation from Sweden in 1905. In 1911, Anna Diriks provided Vers et Prose with the illustration *Orpheus Charming the French Ballads* to accompany the invitation to Paul Fort’s banquet.” Laura Gutman, “Anna and Edvard Diriks: A Nordic Couple in Montparnasse in the Early 20th Century,” 2025, accessed on the Musée d’Orsay website on September 24, 2026. A Swedish illustrator living in Paris and the wife of the Norwegian painter Edvard Diriks, Anna Diriks was part of the circle of the poet Paul Fort and illustrated his Symbolist magazine *Vers et Prose*.