The tombstone of the painter Beauford Delaney, in Division 86 of the Cimetière Parisien de Thiais, carries a three-word epigraph: “I am home.” Delaney’s residence changed several times: born in Knoxville, Tennessee, he lived in Boston and New York before making Paris his home for the last 26 years of his life. Delaney moved there in 1953, encouraged by his close friend James Baldwin, who had settled in the City of Light a few years before. He continued painting colorful abstractions, scenes from urban life, and portraits. But for decades…
