Letter from Nicolas de Staël, Paris, to Paul Rosenberg, 1954 January 18 : autograph manuscript signed.

Saying that it's not convenient to have the Atlantic between them. He would much prefer that Rosenberg choose each painting by himself. However, it appears that Rosenberg wants de Staël to choose, with the sorry approval of Jacques Dubourg, who has no more paintings to sell [of de Staël's] and who is seeing all of de Staël's paintings leaving to go to Rosenberg because de Staël wants to really do his best for Rosenberg. However, that doesn't mean that de Staël never makes a mistake. He asks Rosenberg to bring back the still life with bottles in April in his luggage if he doesn't like it. De Staël likes it a lot--the orange sky brings back memories. He says that the idea of an exhibition of 20 to 25 works is perfect. Rosenberg should not exhibit more than that. He says that Rosenberg should exhibit only what he finds to be excellent, being sure, however, to show the big painting of the orange sky of Sicily recently shipped by plane. Other than that, he should choose the others based on his courageous taste. For the next 3 or 4 months, he won't be able to send Rosenberg any more paintings because he's participating in the Venice Biennale and because Dubourg has a big request/commission for him. For paintings done afterward, Rosenberg can choose them himself in de Staël's studio. He thanks Rosenberg for having allowed him to send him all the paintings. He feels recompensed for the effort he has put in, and says that if Rosenberg is courageous enough, the exhibition will be unique for both of them. He adds that he will be glad to meet with Rosenberg's daughter to correct any [accounting] errors that Rosenberg feels need to be corrected. He adds to not forget the photos.