MATTE IVERS AND ALBERT CAMUS

                                    

                                            

                                          

MATTE  IVERS AND ALBERT CAMUS 

Matte Ivers( born 1933), a Danish painter met Albert Camus at Cafe de Flore ,Paris in the summer of 1957 . Having read his books  and seen him doing theatre in Paris, she fell for him at the first sight . Camus was plus 45 and she was 24. She knew Camus's  limitations , his family life and his beliefs yet she was in no mood to  move away. They met several times in Europe ;  once in Switzerland as well.  With Camus's  sudden death, Matte remained  under shock for some period.

Matte married Jean-Jacques Sempe, a French cartoonist, with whom she had a daughter, Inga Sempe, born in 1968. Inga Sempe is a designer. Mette Ivers and Jean-Jacques Sempé eventually divorced. Today, Mette Ivers is known for her work as an illustrator, particularly for children's books, and has worked with several publishing houses, including Bayard, Hatier, and Hachette .

The affair remained unknown as Matte talked least about it. It was only in 1996, when Olivier Todd  published a biography of Camus that this affair surfaced .Far from being a Parisian intellectual with little conscience about his affairs, Camus' relationships were important to him. 'He had a much more healthy relationship with women than Sartre,' Todd says. 'His relationships were quite moving'.

 Matte is alive and active .At the age of 91, she looks gracious exhibiting her paintings .

( Avtar Mota )

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