Tucked away in a magnificent garden in Paris's 16th arrondissement, opposite the Eiffel Tower, the Maison de Balzac is one of the capital's little-known treasures. There's no better way to discover the writer's only Parisian home, still visible today, than during the Nuit des Musées! This cultural event takes place every year in spring, and offers a program of free nocturnal visits, often accompanied by special events. An unusual way to immerse yourself in the heart of our heritage.
The Maison de Balzac, home of the famous writer, and its secret garden overlooking the Eiffel Tower
The Maison de Balzac, one of the famous writer's homes, is one of the capital's literary gems, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. This house-museum also boasts an incredible garden overlooking the Eiffel Tower, as well as a café. [Read more]
This Saturday, May 18, 2024, the museum dedicated to Honoré de Balzac invites you to take part in the 20th Nuit des Musées in Paris. Come and admire the house where La Comédie humaine was completed, and let yourself be invaded by the spirit of one of France's greatest writers. The Maison de Balzac houses numerous portraits of the artist and his characters, as well as paintings, engravings and drawings. The museum gives us a fresh look at Balzac's masterpiece, and makes us want to read all his novels together!
Since the beginning of the year, a class of students from the Lycée Balzac has been coming regularly to the Maison de Balzac, to prepare to welcome the public on European Museum Night.
Accompanied by their French teacher, Laure Neel-Hubert, and directed by writer and director Julie Abécassis, they are getting ready to slip into the shoes of various Balzacian characters.
On May 18, the apprentice actors will perform staged readings and scenes from Balzac's La Comédie humaine in various rooms of the museum.
They were enthusiastic when they heard about the project, and spontaneously signed up.
We can't wait!
For European Museum Night 2024 at Maison Balzac, we're proposing a pictorial performance echoing the permanent collections and the theme of sport.
To create links between Balzac's work, the museum's holdings and the Olympic Games, we'll be choosing the theme of water, alluding for example to the philosophical tale Drame au bord de la mer and Daumier's bathers.
We can mix in other references such as Cuvier's plates (shells), paintings depicting nautical activities and evoke Coubertin as a Balzacian character, ambitious, complex, idealistic...
The painting will be treated with a few satyric accents, as Daumier liked to do.
The various quotations or references will enable us to build a narrative around:
- Water as a link between all the elements - as an evocation of the grotto described in Drama by the Sea - as a quotation from Daumier's drawings but also from other painters (Caillebotte) etc.
- The structure: the ladder of a diving board as a symbol of social ascension - the shell as a symbol of the infernal spiral leading modern man into a frantic race, but also as a reference to the classifications of living things made by Cuvier and admired by Balzac.
- The characters: Pierre de Coubertin, wearing a top hat, witnesses the feminization of the games. A woman, corseted from the back, climbs the diving board to take part in the sporting events of the human comedy, while Daumier's swimmer tries in vain to climb to the top.
The mechanics of the rowers underline the standardization of a society in full industrial flight.
Whether you're an unconditional fan of the writer, or curious to discover this French author, we encourage you to come and visit the Maison de Balzac during this Nuit des Mus ées! Shall we go?
Dates and Opening Time
On May 18th, 2024
Location
House of Balzac
47, rue Raynouard
75116 Paris 16
Prices
Free
Official website
www.maisondebalzac.paris.fr
The Maison de Balzac, home of the famous writer, and its secret garden overlooking the Eiffel Tower
