Paul VALÉRY (1871-1945). Autograph manuscript with drawings; 1 recto-verso sheet 20x16cm (under glass). Page from his Cahiers, illustrated with pen-and-ink drawings. The first page is illustrated with a drawing of a tree branch climbed by a monkey, around which a snake is wrapped and from which hangs a cage with a small bird. Below, a large snake crawls. On the right, a view of Rome's Piazza del Popolo, with its obelisk. The notes are written in ink, head to tail, some numbered, with this question in pencil: "Donner à penser? "Conf. of 13. Analysis of fragments Testing the sensitivity of subjects Gymnastics of expression. [Nuances biffé] Development of a "life" or "inner" activity? True values. [...] Giving food for thought 15). Reading, writing. Ancient fashion, modern fashion. Great change in the 18th century. - prodigious increase in abstracts. Newspapers. Politics. Highly variable quality of abstracts. [...] 26 bis.) Definitions of fundamental notions almost impossible in this field. Why. 1st page of grammars. Should be analyzed again"... Verso, 4 pen drawings: horses, a man sitting on a cube, a man standing. "4) Works of art give the idea of men who are singularly more precise, more in control of themselves, [...] their eyes, their hands - more differentiated, more articulate than those who look at the work done. Classic work = can cool without decomposing - etc. Great art not destroyed, not corrupted by imitations - but, on the contrary, since imitations are worthy, legitimate things. Taste? Made of disgust 12) Art is therefore this outward combination of a living and active diversity whose acts condense, concert in a Matter, - which undergoes them together, which resists them, which excites them, which transforms them; which deceives, irritates, - and sometimes fulfills its Man"...