Charles Willeford - The Burnt Orange Heresy

Charles Willeford’s The Burnt Orange Heresy revolves around James Figueras, an art historian and critic who becomes obsessed with the greatest painter in the world, Jacques Debierue, an eccentric artist who lives in isolation. Through Debierue’s lawyer, Figueras discovers that the painter has moved to Florida under a false name, and he is offered the opportunity to interview him — but only on the condition that he steals one of Debierue’s paintings.

From that moment, things begin to unravel. Debierue is a strange and mysterious figure, a quiet man who reveals very little about himself during the interview. After dinner, the painter decides that he wants to watch a movie at a drive-in theater, so Figueras drives him and his girlfriend there. While Debierue watches the film, Figueras breaks into the house searching for the painting. Unable to find it, he starts a fire and decides to create a fake painting that will be presented as a work by Debierue.

However, his girlfriend discovers what he has done, and in a moment of panic and desperation, Figueras violently attacks her and kills her. Despite achieving success and recognition as an art critic, he eventually goes to the police and confesses the crime.

An unusual novel about the world of art and the price people are willing to pay for success, The Burnt Orange Heresy is a dark satire of ambition, deception, and the desire for fame. The novel reminded me of two other works about the art world: George Sims’s The Last Best Friend, which has a more convincing setting because Sims himself was an art dealer, and Thomas Bernhard’s Old Masters, a darkly humorous satire of art and the cultural establishment.

Although Willeford’s novel is not a realistic portrait of the art world in the same way as Sims’s work, its strange atmosphere and cynical view of ambition make it a fascinating and unusual crime novel.