Ernest Hemingway and Bernard Berenson

Abstract

In 1949 Ernest Hemingway entered in an eight year long correspondence with eminent art historian Bernard Berenson. With the time the unlikely couple that never personally met developed a strange friendship. What was Hemingway’s motive to get in touch with this sophisticated member of the international intellectual elite and what made Berenson to accept him? The text elaborates on the difference of the two personalities. Basis are the letters both exchanged. Extensive quotes are given. The essay includes the relationship between Berenson and Hemingway’s ex-wife Martha Gellhorn