Having to get closer to my elderly parents during confinement, I settled with my family in the house that my great-grandparents had built in 1936 in a small village in Eure et Loir. The heroine of this village is the aviator Helen Boucher, who died at age 26 in a plane crash after breaking speed records and rising to fame. In the village cemetery, a rather imposing monument pays homage to him. However, just opposite, a barely visible tomb bears the names of Augusta Preitinger known as Guus and Dolly Van Dongen... A small survey of the inhabitants of the village told me that Guus had been the wife of the famous Fauvist painter Kees Van Dongen. Dolly was their daughter. This challenged me... Being very interested in Fauvism and the work of this painter, I wanted to know a little more... Dolly and Hélène were very good friends. They had met in high school in Paris and hadn't stopped seeing each other. The 2 families were related. Guus and Dolly came very often to visit the Boucher family. The friendship of the two girls was such that Dolly had wished to be buried near her friend. Kees Van Dongen met his wife Augusta Preitinger known as Guus during her studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam. In 1897, then about 20 years old, they came to Paris and were married on July 11, 1901 in the Saint-Pierre de Montmartre church. In 1905, they moved to the Bateau-Lavoir where they frequented, among others, Maurice Vlaminck, Andre Derain, Henri Matisse et Pablo Picasso. They have a son who did not survive, then Dolly in 1905. Kees Van Dongen made several portraits of his wife and Dolly, child. In 1917, Kees Van Dongen began a relationship with the seamstress Léa Jacob, known as Jasmy. He then abandons his wife and moves in with Léa in a mansion in the Bois de Boulogne. He became a society painter by painting portraits of theater actresses. Guus and Kees divorced in 1921. Kees is buried in Monaco... Guus and Dolly in this little Gallic village!   Helene Boucher as a child   Hélène Boucher represented with her plane, Le Rafale.   Guus represented in "The woman with jewels" 1910 Guus depicted in "The Spanish Shawl" 1913   Guus and his daughter Dolly "My kid and his mother" 1908   "Portrait of Dolly with a Hat" 1910   "Portrait of Dolly" 1911 "Bouquet of gerberas" by Guus Van Dongen 1909 Canvas painted by Guus in the studio she shared with Kees when they lived at the Bateau-Lavoir.