Biography

1930-1944
He worries about the misfortunes of his Catalan friends during the Civil War. He sends money to Josep de Togores so that he can continue working. When the war ends he carries out what needs to be done to get Joaquim Sunyer to Banyuls, who was living a very difficult life in L'Isle-Adam. Maillol meets other republican exiles such as Josep Maria de Segarra, Ferran Soldevila and Alexandre Plana in Banyuls. Maillol often visits Pau Casals during this period, who was seeking refuge in Prades.

Ronsard's Livret des Folastries, illustrated by Maillol and published by Vollard, appears.
As he does not get the necessary financing, Maillol does not make the monument to Henri Barbusse but he gets the rights of this monumental statue, which becomes The River. He begins his last statue, Harmony, which he does not finish.

He works on the catalogue of his work with his helper and model Dina Vierny. She tells him about her activity in the resistance and about the difficulties she encounters when helping people forced to cross the border quickly from France into Spain because they are being persecuted by the Germans. Maillol agrees to help her and lets her use his study on the Puig del Mas mountain, where the refugees can spend the night. Maillol personally shows her the dangerous mountain route leading to freedom. The first organisation of guides and people who help others pass through the mountains on the French/Spanish border is named the "Maillol network".
Maillol paints and draws a great deal. He works an average of 10 hours per day at the age of 82.

He visits Raoul Dufy on 15 September 1944, who sought refuge in Vernet-les-Bains, Conflent. A doctor named Nicolau takes him by car and they have an accident. Maillol's jaw is damaged and he cannot talk as a result. He is taken to the Germanetes dels Pobres care home, where he writes his last thoughts in a jotter. He dies of uraemia in his house in Banyuls on 27 September.

Dina Reclining from Behind, circa, c. 1941
Charcoal on paper, 25 x 35.4 cm
Fondation Dina Vierny-Musée Maillol, Paris