The Writer As Explorer

• Jacqueline Marval is a pseudonym, her real name was Marie Josephine Vallet. “Marval” is a composite of her first and last names, MARie VALlet.
• She was first married to a travelling salesman, but they separated after the death of their son. She then moved to Paris and entered a relationship with painter Francois Girot. He introduced her to Jules Flandrin, another painter, who she left him for. She and Flandrin were partners for 20 years.
• She became friends with Kees Van Dongen after protesting the removal of his painting The Spanish Shawl from the Salon d’Automne. She set up her studio near his, and later she and Flandrin moved to an apartment next door to his. She attended his “famous costume ball.”

Story: Flandrin misinterprets Marval’s friendship with Van Dongen to be romantic and becomes jealous. However, he is so in love with Marval that he can’t bear the thought of losing her, so he feigns ignorance, even agreeing to move to an apartment near Van Dongen’s. Meanwhile, Marval (completely innocent) begins to notice him becoming distant from her and thinks that he may be being unfaithful to her.