Not only did he neglect to find Seraphine until 1927 even though the war had apparently not unsettled her at all (she still lived in the same house and even had the same neighbours) but he faffed around so much subsequently that the Great Depression had started before he got around to staging her exhibition.
shareHe could have done a better job of finding out about her. He fled when war broke out in 1914 and didn't return to France until 1922. The French government had seized his paintings as war booty and sold them at auction in 1921 before he could get back.
Then, as a Jew, he was hiding and trying to keep from being rounded up and sent to a concentration camp from 1939 to 1945. Hitler had a lot of collaborators in other oountries eager to help send their fellow countrymen to death camps.
He could have done a better job of finding out about her.Living in the 21st century many would find it difficult to imagine the catastrophic upheavals affecting France caused by World War 1.He thought she was likely to be dead. He didn't return to Senlis till 9 years after the end of the War and as you indicate yourself, he had his own problems to overcome.