Hell of Solitude (opens in new tab)

In the epigrammatic essay ‘Art and Other Matters’, Akutagawa mentions Cézanne, but it’s Satie I think of. Hell of Solitude – the grim title is misleading – is Satie-esque: surface simplicity meets technical complexity, playfulness and utter seriousness walk hand-in-hand, brevity is a delight, evanescence a risk of life, and form to be used capriciously. Both artists refused to engage the world on anything other than their own artistic terms, and posterity is now able to recognise their value....