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of anticipation was so intense that success was almost inevitable. One admiring critic wrote that audiences had simply needed time to catch up with the modernity of the composer’s great work. Gabrielle, whose sponsorship made it possible, would later say, “I loved the Ballets Russes very much . . . when Diaghilev would tell me, “but it will be very expensive to put this on—I didn’t care at all.”8 Declaring that money was an “accursed thing,” and because of that “it should be squandered,” Gabrielle used her patronage to put into practice her professed belief that the only real point of wealth was its ability “to make us free.” She not only “squandered” it on Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, she was to become, albeit as discreetly as possible, one of Diaghilev’s and Stravinsky’s major patrons for several years to come.

From its first night, this Rite of Spring was heralded as a classic, and Gabrielle was present at the grand supper party Diaghilev gave to celebrate the launch of the new season. Among the guests were the principal dancers, the Picassos, Stravinsky, Misia and the choreographer and principal dancer, Léonide Massine. Massine became overwrought, made himself completely drunk and apparently burned “Picasso’s hand with a cigarette (Picasso never moved).”9 Diaghilev had just discovered that Massine, his present lover, was having an affair with one of the female dancers.

Diaghilev’s fantastic possessiveness made him incapable of forgiving Massine. And although his reaction to Massine’s affair would drive Diaghilev to an emotional collapse, he was obdurate that his gifted friend would no longer work with the Ballets Russes.

While this episode was particularly dramatic, emotional dramas of one kind or another were not only constantly being played out behind the scenes in the Ballets Russes, they were integral to its existence. Somehow, Diaghilev and his troupe created an ongoing atmosphere of chaos, out of which they made their extraordinary ballets. Picasso’s own kind of creative chaos had a very different rhythm, however, and he had vowed he wouldn’t work with those mad Russians again. Diaghilev’s notoriously unscrupulous passion and conviction were nevertheless so persuasive that he had succeeded in luring back the painter, normally intractable once his mind had been made up. Even Diaghilev’s fellow Russian, Stravinsky, obviously familiar with the vagaries of the Russian temperament, once declared:

It is almost impossible to describe the perversity of Diaghilev’s entourage . . . I remember a rehearsal in Monaco, at which our pianist suddenly began looking very intensely beyond the music stand. I followed his gaze to a Monegasque soldier in a tricorne and then asked what the matter was. He answered “I long to surrender myself to him.”10

When Misia had got wind of Gabrielle’s philanthropy toward Diaghilev, she felt her role as the sole source of invention, especially if it had to do with Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, had been subverted. Extraordinarily, she complained to Gabrielle about giving Diaghilev the finances to mount The Rite of Spring. Then, on hearing of Gabrielle’s further generosity, she said, “I am overcome with sorrow when I think that Stravinsky has accepted money from you.”11

Misia was fascinated by Gabrielle, and would remain so for the rest of her life. She understood, with that uncanny intuition, that Gabrielle was different—in her own way, completely original. But she felt that the great Diaghilev was her “property.” Now that Gabrielle’s own philanthropic acts had intruded on Misia’s territory, she was incensed.

Gabrielle’s creative success and distinctive persona were enlarging her position in Parisian society. While only the most up-to-date of the haut monde were prepared to socialize with this “dressmaker,” she was now meeting some of the most significant musicians, artists and writers then in Paris. With both the haut monde and bohemia curious about her, Gabrielle had allowed herself to be seduced not by another wealthy socialite but by an artist. This particular artist, Stravinsky,