The magazine World, 1929, no. 17, pp. 11-14 (public domain, reprinted after the Mazovian Digital Library) features a conversation between Edward Woroniecki and the sculptor Antoine Bourdell talking about the Adam Mickiewicz monument he created. The monument was unveiled on 29 April 1929 on the Place d'Alma in Paris. It is now located in a park on the Cours Albert I. The interview is accompanied by detailed photographs of the monument.

A modernised reading of the text.

Interview with A. Bourdell and characterisation of his monument.

Actually, there is no coincidence in life,' A. said to me. Bourdelle.
'Without our knowing it, some mysterious force directs us, working towards its hidden ends'.

The noble face of the great sculptor, with its strong and gentle features, surrounded by a silver wreath of short beard, was compacted with an expression of concentration, of thoughtfulness.
- I was a young, budding sculptor. Twenty-five years old! - Come to think of it. J. Michelet's widow, a compatriot of mine since she was also born in Montauban, commissioned a medallion in honour of her husband. We became friends and for twelve years she was a second mother to me. She constantly told me about Poland, about Kościuszko, especially about Mickiewicz, for whom she retained a true veneration. Her enthusiasm for the Polish cause and her unwavering faith were completely ingrained in me. I sometimes had the impression that the Polish Bard was speaking to me from her lips.
- I have no need to tell you with what joy I accepted the commission of the Franco-Polish committee for the monument. It included Br. Le Blondes, Rośny-aîné, Menabrea, Dr Nicaise, W. Mickiewicz, K. Woźnicki, etc. It must be stressed that the initiative came from the French side. It was in 1909, and like a sudden revelation, the idea dawned on me: I would present the Poet as a Pilgrim, striving through the world with the slogan of Justice and Freedom of the People. This idea surprised many Poles, but eventually won over everyone. I recall a touching letter I received at the time from a group of Polish university students in Vienna...
- Truly, at times I think that fate guided my hand while working on the memorial. Even then - apart from a few details - the whole thing was created in the same form as it is today. With perhaps the difference that I originally wanted to place the Pegasus of Poetry at the top of the column. I soon replaced it with the Genius of National Defence. But I immediately placed the figures of the three partitions - a united and free Poland - on the plinth. It was not a mere premonition; it was an act of deep faith and conviction in the fulfilment of the Poet's bardic words. How much heart and feeling I put into it, how much effort and the best I had in me - I will not dwell on that. I consider this monument to be one of the most fundamental works of my life. It was for me personally a kind of holy command of the heart. Perhaps I have expressed all the lyricism of my spirit most profoundly here. I would not be capable of repeating a similar effort, of reliving that state of tension and enthusiasm with which I worked on Mickiewicz.

Bourdelle plunged into a reverie. I remained silent, looking with emotion at the magnificent old man who, from the depths of inspiration, had brought forth this extraordinary monument, the only one truly worthy of our Bard.
- And you know - he took up again with liveliness. - I foresaw the war and knew that it would end in the triumph of France and the liberation of Poland. I did not lose that confidence for a moment. Suffice it to tell you that during the period of the bombardment of Paris from a fat Bertha, during the most dangerous defeats of the Allies - I worked with all weather - on the Genius of the National Defence from the monument... Once I only supposed - smiled Bourdelle - that I would pay for it with my life. When finishing it, your compatriots urged me so much that, ill, I had to carve ten figures for the pedestal in two months. And at the same time I had to fight fierce battles for the Alma square, which they did not want to give me... Yes! I believe that the unveiling of the monument will be a true triumph for the Poet and for Poland...
- And yours - I added from the bottom of my heart.

Let us now analyse how the construction of the monument is presented.

On a double low plinth of blocks of polished red granite from Burgundy rises a massive column. It is flanked at the bottom by a series of 10 figures, mostly inspired by the works of Mickiewicz: Aldona, Balban, Konrad Wallenrod, Love of the Fatherland ('Dziady'), Slaves ('The Books of Pilgrimage'). Towering over them all is a group of three Poles (of the Partitions), united in a fraternal embrace. Below each figure is a corresponding quotation on one of the truncated plinth planes. Beneath the three Poles, the superscription of Bourdelle's arrangement reads: "Réassemblées les trois âmes de la Pologne songent vers Mickiewicz, prophète de la délivrance" ("Joined together, the three souls of Poland think towards Mickiewicz, the Bard of Liberation").

At the height of two-thirds of the column, the magnificent Genius of National Defence, with wings spread to fly, raises his sword with both hands to cut... Higher still, on a very simplified capitol, the imposing figure of the Poet in a flowing coat, with a pilgrim's staff in his right hand, beckons with a commanding gesture to mankind behind him - on the road to a bright future.

The artist wished to enchant the giant gust of the Bard's spirit into bronze. This explains why he chose the form of a column, shooting up from the ground, but not bound to it by the weight of some massive base. This upward flight is marked with a strange intuition, first by the heads of the three Poles turning towards Mickiewicz, then by the projection of the Genius's wings and arms carrying a sword, and finally by the slender figure of the Poet and his hand raised towards heaven. This gradation, brilliantly executed, binds the composition together with a bond of impressive unity of idea and artistic realisation.

The idea presented architecturally extraordinary difficulties, which the artist overcame thanks to his masterful technique. The skilful distribution of the weight and the chain of figures encircling the lower part of the column solidly establish it on the pedestal. To counterbalance the bronze mass of the Genius, the artist tilted its wings backwards and added a rostrum on the other side of the shaft. The whole is thus perfectly balanced and strong.

In contrast to his great predecessor Rude, the author of the famous 'Marseillaise' from the Arc de Triomphe on the Etoile, who was based on a realistic observation of life, Bourdelle follows his own distinct path. He is not concerned with the material fidelity of the work's components. Rather, he approaches an austere synthesis of Romanesque sculpture. In the rhythm of powerful masses and masses, he builds complexes governed by the harmony of purely sculptural form. There he achieves a conciseness of synthesis, with an expression that is unusually intense in its simplicity.

The monument to Adam Mickiewicz is a masterpiece. It is a magnificent tribute by a French genius to the Polish Hanger. Bourdelle's monument testifies to the historical fraternity of two great nations, united in their love of the ideal of active service to Humanity and the Freedom of Peoples, which Adam Mickiewicz represented most nobly.