The memoirs of Balthus (1908-2001) cover a vast part of the history of 20th-century art and recreate the images of outstanding people: the artist spent his childhood with his mother, the German artist Baladina Klossowska, and the poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Balthus describes the life of the Parisian bohemia of the early and mid-century, mentioning friends including Picasso, Derain, Artaud, Giacometti, Saint-Exupéry, Char, Jouve, Camus. The artist talks about paintings, about his Japanese wife Setsuko, about his daughter Harumi, about the cats that often appear on his canvases, about the houses he lived in. He talks about the Catholic faith and inspiration, reflects on painting and exposes modern art, often deceptive and foreshadowing the decline of civilization. Balthus dictated his memoirs during the last years of his life, when he no longer had the strength to write himself. In this way he wanted to teach his last life lessons. These are the stories of a master who preferred to speak the language of painting, telling not about himself, but about the world.