At the turn of the century, the French artist Albert Matignon (1860-1937) became fascinated with opium.

Matignon became somewhat well-known after painting Morphine in 1905. He was one of only a few artists who were bold enough to delve into drug and alcohol-related themes.

By 1911, he had seen the seedier side of opiates. That year he exhibited a painting of a ghostly woman smoking in an opium den and called it le vampire de l’opium. The painting captures a young woman, in the final stages of physical and mental decay, still clinging to the opium pipe that was the source of all her troubles.

Joyeux Halloween!