She visited Baghdad in August 1977, one of the five hot summer months. I do not imagine that the Impressionists could flourish in the summer of Baghdad. There, the sun shines two-thirds of the day, and the light is dazzling to the point of blindness! From their worship, the blue sky and sunflowers fade and wither, with their radiance, weariness, and purity as though a devotee whose asceticism and fasting exhausted them. In the midday sun, the roar of the stone and the earth boils with thirst; the creatures dry up and lose their radiance and vitality.