Explicitly Grantaire has no mention of a particular affinity for art. In a way. There is, however, a mention of a vague ambitionāāone must look deeper into the text and take one's own interpretation from available facts. There is a difficulty with Les MisĆ©rables as different versions will afford different English translationsāāthere is a version on the kindle (free to download and a decent translation), 1976 Penguin Classics (Norman Denny introduction) and the Project Gutenberg (for original French)āāand so the French must be consulted.
āMais j'en ai la vague ambition, dit Grantaire.
(But I have a vague ambition, said Grantaire
Ā Ā Ā ābook IVĀ āa few pages of history p.567 kindle and p.736 penguin, but here written as 'I'd quite like to try.' see, in translated differences? both, from here on.,Ā K and PC)
This is said in relation to the trip to Barriere du Maine which Enjolras does not trust Grantaire to do. There lay marble-workers, painters, and journeymen in the studios of sculptors. This then links back to his studies, mentioned a little earlier onĀ
ā[...]when I was a pupil of Gros, instead of daubing wretched little pictures, I passed my time in pilfering apples[...]'(K - p.444)Ā
Now there is obviously here a question of authenticity and genuineness in Grantaire's words for, as we know, he is a self-deprecating man: 'It is a shame that I am ignorant, otherwise I would quote you a mass of things; but I know nothing' (K p.444). As the reader will knowāāthis is not true. His speeches and his arguments offer the complete opposite, even in his drunken states he is unimaginably intelligent and, of course, full of coveted knowledgeāperhaps even more so than his friends. Perhaps this knowledge, this understanding of the world through philosophy, history and literature (for it is likely his knowledge of Greek myths stems from literature) has made him bitter.
So perhaps, with this in mind, his talking about himself must be, as it were, taken with a large pinch of salt. This, I believe, is where the idea of Grantaire being a prolific artist has come from.Ā
Regardless, I believe, of what your interpretation or opinions on the text, and on Grantaire, are, one must not forget that Grantaire is more than just his art. It is simply one more method of his expressionāthis is alongside his alcoholism, his outbursts, his cynicism.Ā
