De La Croix de Lafayette's career as a painter was relatively short. It started in the mid seventies and ended in the late eighties. The artist, himself,  tragically ended his glorious success, when he was on the top of the world. It started like a "personal amusement" and dissipated like a dream, at a time, when his paintings went for big time money. And by big time money, I mean, millions of dollars. Here is one version of the story.

Maximillien: "You paint for fun, not for money."

I knew Maximillien in Paris,  when he was a little child. He had the face of a small cherubim. Others described his face as a mythological Greek face. This could be true. Because, one noted European sculptor asked Maximillien to pose for her as a model for a statue of a young Greek mythological figure, she was working on. When Maximillien was a little boy, he wanted to become like Cicero. Being or becoming a painter was never on his mind. He was funny and delightfully satiric despite his young age. I asked him once (when he was 10 year old), what kind of job or profession he dislikes most. Maximillien replied without hesitation: "Two jobs...Pope and animals hunter...". I asked him again "Don't you want to be a famous painter?" and he replied "Painting is not a job. Painting is personal amusement. You do it for fun, not for money." This statement given by Maximillien the child will one day delight and infuriate his future art agents and people who bought his art.

A LAWYER? A WRITER? OR AN ARTIST?

Maximillien had three teachers. Frere Robert, a Jesuit friar at La Mission Culturelle Française, the legendary Gino Severini, and Maximillien "The Rebel". The Jesuit taught him classical art, landscape and portraiture. Frere Robert once said " Ce petit Maximillien est un colorist ne". In English, it means "This little boy Maximillien is born a natural colorist." Severini, one of the giants and legends of modern art taught him abstract art. Severini predicted a formidable future for his student. He told his aunt Laure "Your Maximillien is a genius in the making." Despiite all these encouragements on the part of his teachers, de La Croix de Lafayette never considered painting as a "serious occupation".

Instead of enrolling in an art academy, he went to a law school and became a trial lawyer. He practiced law for a few years and threw his "robe d'avocat" (Lawyer Robe) in the trash. He quit. "Lawyers are greedy and trouble makers. They destroy families and bring confusion and decadence to the human race.", Maximillien told me.

He loved music and literature. At the age of 17, he wrote his first poetry book. It was published and received accolades and glowing reviews from French intellectuals, critics and members of L'Academie Française. One day, Maximillien de La Croix de Lafayette's work will exceed 90 published books and encyclopedias.

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