After his return of his USA-tour that had (in his eyes) failed to be successful, Django had met and played with many famous musicians like Satchmo, Dizzy Gilepie, Duke Ellington, as well as he had been well mentioned by all critics and papers - Django is rather frustrated and disillusioned. 
Even all big concerts he had played (e. g. in Carnegie Hall or at the big theatres in the Broadway) could not persuade him of the fact that his tour still had been a great success with which he had been able to inspire thousands of spectators and which should underpin, his worldwide fame in the end.
Hence, a little bit bitterly he withdrew after his return to France in 1949 more and more of the music and stopped to play guitar between 1949 till 1950 completely.
The music and the music-scene meanwhile had strongly changed not least caused by the new sound of "Bebop" that swapped from America to Europe. The swing-music that Django had been playing in France during the years before was not asked no more like before.
So he started to live rather secludedly, went fishing instead of playing, met with his cousins and friends, played Billiards (Django was supossed to be an excellent player of billiards the rumors say!) and - finally he started to paint again, this time very intensely.
Django devoted himself so intensely into the painting that he even allowed it to be reported that "...he would never ever again play the guitar, instead wants to separate from music and only wanted to paint for good...".
It was once more Charles Delauney that could convince Django about 1952 to get back to guitar again and after, in the time shortly before his death, once more gave some concerts and also recorded some of the best recordings of his whole career in the studio. Among other songs there is also one of his last known and published tunes called "Anouman", one of his nicest songs ever.
Django Reinhardt's paintings were strongly influenced by the impressionism of the past (Django was friends with Salvatore Dali among other painters) and in some regard rather in the abstract. Sceneries, abstract motives and moods. But he also painted act-pictures - rather very unusually for a Sinto.
Here we show some of his pieces of art, themselves even today are presented as on occasion of his 100th birthday in a big retrospective happened in 2010 in Blois/France, as well as in galleries or museums. (For increasing the pictures click please on the respective picture).
Share this article:
