George SandIf you haven't already seen the movie "Impromptu" with Judy Davis, Julian Sands, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patankin and Bernadette Peters (with Emma Thompson in a small cameo) please do. It's overly romantic but amusing.
George Sand was an amazing author, personality, and all-around woman. She earned as much notoriety for her Bohemian lifestyle as for her written work. Born Aurore Dupin, she was the most famous woman writer in 19th-century France. She demanded for women the freedom in living that was a matter of course to the men of her day. Subsequent novels astounded readers with their frank exploration of women's sexual feelings and their passionate call for women's freedom to find emotional satisfaction. In the eyes of many critics, George's masterpiece is her autobiography. Though she was a brilliant writer, she was perhaps most famous for her personality and lifestyle. Largely temperamental, rashly creative, fiery and opinionated - George pushed the limits in all kinds of ways. But perhaps most interesting is simply her look, the way she behaved herself (or rather, didn't), and how she acted around even the most distinguished aristocracy. George, of course, was not her birth name. She changed her name to George Sand when she became a writer. So Aurore, who happened to be married to a baron, left him (obviously a scandal in those times), took their two kids, moved out on her own, changed her name to George...and the rest is history. George had open and notorious relationships with famous men (artists, writers, musicians) she knew in Paris, including Jules Sandeau, Alfred de Musset, Frédéric Chopin, and others. She was friends with the best of them: Eugène Delacroix, Franz Liszt...and of course, most famously, with Chopin. She and Chopin had a complicated relationship, going from friends, to lovers... Their relationship was one of the most intriguing and unlikely in history. Chopin was aristocratic, well-behaved, finicky, proper, a bit stuffy even (gasp!!). And George was...well, George.
To protest the unequal treatment accorded to women - and to save money - George usually wore men's suits: shirt, pants, jacket, tie, top hat...the whole deal...she became a bit of an icon, the envy of so many proper ladies who wore their corsets and frilly dresses. Not only did George wear men's clothes, she also smoked cigars and had a rowdy sense of humor (much like Frida Kahlo).
