Prosper Mérimée

Exhibition at the Musée national du château de Compiègne, 15 December 2023 - 18 March 2024

Famous for writing numerous short stories - including La Vénus d'Ille and, above all, Carmen, which inspired Bizet's famous opera - Prosper Mérimée (1803-1870) was also one of the great figures of 19th-century French history and archaeology. Appointed Inspector General of Historic Monuments in 1834, he travelled the length and breadth of France, working with Viollet-le-Duc to restore endangered buildings such as the Basilica of Vézelay, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Cité de Carcassonne.

Packed with around a hundred notes and numerous essays, this exhibition catalogue looks back over Prosper Mérimée's career, without neglecting certain more personal aspects, in particular his relationship with women and with many of the artists of his time, including Delacroix, Chateaubriand, Hugo, Musset and Stendhal. Reproductions of numerous letters and sketches shed light on Mérimée's approach, while surveys of ancient stelae and busts testify to his interest in antiquity, and watercolours reveal a little-known aspect of his graphic work.