Editing Georges Clemenceau (section)

==Personal life==
Clemenceau was a long-time friend and supporter of the impressionist painter [[Claude Monet]]. He was instrumental in persuading Monet to have a cataract operation in 1923. For more than a decade, Clemenceau encouraged Monet to complete his donation to the French state of the large ''[[Water Lilies|Les Nymphéas]]'' (Water Lilies) paintings that now are on display in the Paris [[Musée de l'Orangerie]]. They are housed in specially constructed oval galleries that opened to the public in 1927.<ref>{{cite news |first=Roberta |last=Smith |title=Serenade in Blue |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=10 September 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/arts/design/11monet.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=28 June 2010 |archive-date=12 October 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012040040/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/11/arts/design/11monet.html?pagewanted=all |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>__________. Monet: Le cycle des 'Nymphéas' (Paris : Musée national de l'Orangerie, 1999).</ref>

Having fought a dozen [[duel]]s against political opponents, Clemenceau knew the importance of exercise and practised [[fencing]] every morning even when he was an old man.<ref name="MacMillan">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZapAQAAQBAJ | title=The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914 | publisher=[[Random House]] | author=MacMillan, Margaret | author-link=Margaret MacMillan | year=2013 | location=New York City | pages=254 | isbn=978-1-4000-6855-5 | access-date=1 September 2020 | archive-date=28 October 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028202735/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZapAQAAQBAJ | url-status=live }}</ref>

Clemenceau was an [[Atheism|atheist]].<ref>"M. Clemenceau does not belong to the Socialist party, but is nevertheless a convinced atheist. He opposes zealously the idea of God, and preaches revolt against Him." Eugène Tavernier, 'The Religious Question in France. I. A French Catholic's View', ''The Times'', 6 November 1909; p. 5; Issue 39110; col F.</ref><ref>''The Nineteenth Century and After''. Vol. 61. N.p.: Leonard Scott Publishing Company, 1907. Print. "When Georges Clemenceau arrived in Paris in 1862, to proceed with his medical studies, he was already both a Revolutionist and an atheist".</ref><ref>Strachan, Hew. ''The First World War: A New History''. N.p.: Simon & Schuster UK, 2014. Print. "Georges Clemenceau, radical and atheist".</ref>

He took an interest in Japanese art, especially [[Japanese ceramics]]. He collected approximately 3,000 [[Japanese tea utensils#Incense container|small incense containers]] (''kōgō'' 香合), which are now in museums.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitDa.do;jsessionid=A1665DAD1595502972B028182B12B490?method=preview&lang=EN&id=13062 | title=Digital Museums Canada Decommissions the Virtual Museum of Canada Website | access-date=20 January 2018 | archive-date=21 January 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180121071531/http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/edu/ViewLoitDa.do;jsessionid=A1665DAD1595502972B028182B12B490?method=preview&lang=EN&id=13062 | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Montreal Museum of Fine Arts]] held a special exhibition of his collection in 1978.<ref>{{cite book|title=Exhibition of Kogo: Japanese Ceramic Incense Boxes from the George Clemenceau Collection|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HksXnQAACAAJ|year=1978|publisher=Asahi Shimbun|access-date=26 December 2018|archive-date=28 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231028202735/https://books.google.com/books?id=HksXnQAACAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref>