To mark the 400th anniversary of her birth, the Musée Carnavalet – History of Paris is organizing an exhibition dedicated to Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné (1626-1696). On this occasion, more than 200 works—including paintings, objects, and drawings—from the museum's collections, major French and foreign public collections, and private collections have been brought together.
Housed in the Hôtel Carnavalet, where the famous Parisian lived from 1677 until her death in 1696, this exhibition revisits Madame de Sévigné's presence in Paris during a period when the city was undergoing significant transformations. The writer's life and work serve as a lens through which to discover the capital in its urban, social, political, and artistic dimensions. The exhibition begins by exploring the letter writer's place in the collective imagination and her literary legacy, before highlighting the role of women in 17th-century Paris within the context of the spread of gallant culture. A member of an elite that observed the grandeur of Louis XIV's court from afar, Madame de Sévigné was an attentive witness to political Paris and captured the violence of the tensions shaping history at the time. Finally, evoking the daily life of the woman of letters within the Hôtel Carnavalet as it was inhabited by her family brings this journey through the century to a close. Developed with the support of a scientific committee composed of specialists in her work and the period, the exhibition is based on renewed critical approaches to the letter writer.
Price: From €0 to €15.
Source: paris.fr — photo: CCØ Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris