by Philippe Maryssael, retired translator and terminologist, translator of Kahlil Gibran and contributor to the Kahlil Gibran Collective – Arlon, Belgium, June 17, 2026 – All rights reserved copyright © 2026.
Pierre de Lanux got a special gift from Kahlil Gibran
Pierre André Véronge de Lanux (a.k.a. Pierre de Lanux or Pierre Combret de Lanux) was borne in Paris, France, in 1887 and died in 1955. He was a journalist, a writer, a diplomat, a teacher, and a translator.
He was the personal secretary of the famous French writer André Gide in 1907 and 1908 and of the Nouvelle Revue Française between 1909 and 1911. He was a friend of writers of the time, including Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince.
Between 1912 and 1914, he was a war correspondent in the Balkans for French newspapers, including Le Figaro. During World War I, he contributed to the war as an ambulance driver for the Red Cross. Between October 1916 and the summer of 1919, he conducted several diplomatic missions: (1) October 1916: cultural mission in the United States; (2) 1918: member of the French Haut-Commissariat in the United States; (3) 1919: attaché with the French delegation, attending the Paris Peace Conference (Treaty of Versailles) which eventually developed into the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations in the wake of World War II.
On 9th October 1918, he married Elisabeth Eyre (1894-1996), who became a well-known stylist and designer in her own right.
On 25th July 1932, he was made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
As a writer, he published several books and essays, including La Yougoslavie, la France et les Serbes (Yugoslavia, France and the Serbs) in 1916. That publication may have a connexion with Kahlil Gibran's text "Defeat" from the Madman (1918).
Pierre de Lanux by Man Ray, 1925 (centre Pompidou) – Eyre de Lanux (Wikipedia)
In his book La Vie inspirée de l'Auteur du Prophète, Jean-Pierre Dahdah, a renowned translator of Gibran's English and Arabic works into French, wrote that de Lanux proposed to translate The Madman into French. Did it happen? Did de Lanux's translation see the light of day? If it did, it seems not to have been published to this day. It has however been ascertained that Gibran did make a portrait of his friend in 1918. It is also Pierre de Lanux, together with James Oppenheimer (the author of The Book of Self which was published by Alfred Knopf that same year), and the poet Witter Bynner (another close friend of Gibran's), who introduced Gibran to Alfred Knopf and convinced the latter to publish his first English book The Madman later that year.
One year later, Gibran's book Twenty Drawings was published by Knopf. In January of 1920, Gibran offered a copy of Twenty Drawings to his friend Pierre and inscribed it to him:
Gibran’s handwritten dedication to his friend Pierre in January 1920 (from Twenty Drawings)
But there is more to this book being offered to Pierre de Lanux by Gibran… Much more… Between the pages of Twenty Drawings was inserted a surprise from Kahlil Gibran to Pierre de Lanux. A surprise in the form of a unique, never-before-seen watercolour painting inscribed in French to Pierre de Lanux:
Gibran’s dedication “À Pierre (to Pierre), Kahlil, 1919”
The watercolour has surfaced but very recently, one hundred and six years after it was drawn and painted, on the website of Sotheby's in Paris where it was put to auction at EUR 20,000 as a starting bid. It is 27.7 cm by 21.5 cm in size on verged paper watermarked "Gloria Linen USA." Bidding closed on 17th June 2026, 03:46 PM CEST.
Front and back sides of the watercolour
Interestingly, this watercolour is a variant of a watercolour and a wash-drawing that were documented in the catalogue of an exhibition that took place at the Sursock Museum in Beirut, Lebanon, between December 1999 and January 2000. The catalogue is titled Kahlil Gibran, Horizons of the Painter.
The first of the two is titled Divine Power Protecting Mankind, an undated, unsigned wash-drawing sized 51 cm by 34 cm. Titled Harmony Between Man and the Creator, the other one is a watercolour sized 56 cm by 39.2 cm, also undated and unsigned.
Front cover and page 117 of Horizons of the Painter
The fact that a never-before-seen watercolour by Gibran has recently surfaced leads us to think that Gibran must indeed have offered other paintings to other acquaintances of his because he was well-introduced in the Boston and New York circles of elites and artists.
We may only hope that other such so-far-unknown paintings and drawings by Kahlil Gibran will surface for us to enjoy.
Please note that this paper was prepared before (but posted after) the closing date and time of Sotheby's auction in order not to interfere in any way with it.
At closing time on Wednesday, 17th June 2026, the watercolour and the accompanying book Twenty Drawings sold at EUR 61,440.
Sources:
Information on Philippe Maryssael and his translation projects can be found at http://www.maryssael.eu/en/.
