No legacy
Claude has devoted his life purely to painting, it absorbed him fully and irrevocably. But unfortunately he received neither recognition, nor acknowledgement, nor acceptance in society. Though being very productive there was no single picture left after his death. Most of his paintings he used to distribute, and the one in front of which he hang himself Sandoz burnt. This is the saddest irony for a painter – to leave no legacy to remember him by.
Best way to starve
During one of the discussion about art one of the friends – sculptor Mahoudeau said that to be engaged in art is the best way to die for hunger. How sad it would sound but it is true, and we see it on the example of the main characters in the novel. Those who managed to succeed, did it predominantly by commodifying art. The greatest and saddest irony of a talented person is to die starving, because his genius was far ahead his time.
Devout Mathilde
Mathilde Jabouille was a pharmacist's wife, but after her husband’s death she began leading a dissipated life, many men were using her “services”. But after her second marriage she turned into a pious and devout lady, at least she tried to become a such. In the image the author portrays all the pretense of bourgeois society.
