Meet the woman who shot up with Coco Chanel, inspired Proust, and was painted by Renoir

<p>Over the course of her unusual and long life, Misia Sert achieved something truly rare: a kind of immortality. The coquette of Belle &Eacute;poque Paris, Sert was painted by some of the best known artists in the world, including Renoir, Bonnard, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Vuillard. &ldquo;The painters had the privilege of immortalising her miraculous looks,&rdquo;&nbsp;<a href="http://www.clivejames.com/pieces/shadows/misia" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">wrote critic Clive James in the&nbsp;<em>London Review of Books</em></a>, &ldquo;which included a legendary pair of legs and a bosom that kept strong men awake at night thinking.&rdquo; She was a confidante of Picasso&rsquo;s, and a friend of Proust, Mallarm&eacute;, Verlaine, Cocteau, Gide, Monet, Stravinsky and Serge Diaghilev, founder of the Ballets Russes. She and Coco Chanel were &ldquo;soul sisters,&rdquo; and likely lovers.</p> <p><a href="https://timeline.com/misia-sert-paris-art-aba344abb1ec"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></p>