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Théophile de Viau Exhibition at the Bibliothèque Mazarine

Photo : Bibliothèque Mazarine

Oct 9 – Jan 9Free

Théophile de Viau Exhibition at the Bibliothèque Mazarine

Forget the rigid statues of the French seventeenth century and meet a poet who lived dangerously. Discover the rebellious life of an artist once sentenced for his forbidden verses, all within the silent, grand walls of a historic academic library.

Bibliothèque Mazarine (Paris 6th)

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About

from October 9, 2026 to January 9, 2027

Free admission from Monday to Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

23 quai de Conti, 75006 PARIS

A poet with a tragic destiny and a fleeting figure of the Grand Siècle, Théophile de Viau has become the symbol of a scandalous freedom to think, act, and write. Both his work and his adventurous life reflect the difficulty of "running the career" in an era marked by strong political, cultural, and religious tensions.

Born into a Protestant family of minor Gascon nobility, he established himself in Paris through his poetic talent and the support of patrons. Considered the leader of modern scholars, he was at the height of his glory when booksellers published the Parnasse satyrique, a collection of erotic and materialistic pieces opening with a sonnet attributed to him. Devout circles attacked him as the figurehead of libertinism: the Jesuit François Garasse published his Doctrine curieuse des beaux esprits de ce temps, and the prosecutor Mathieu Molé instructed his trial; a war of libels broke out. Sentenced on August 18, 1623, to be burned alive with his works, he defended himself with verses composed in his cell at the Conciergerie and then at Chantilly, where he found a final refuge with the Duke of Montmorency.

His legacy, maintained by the reissues of Georges de Scudéry and Jean Mairet and then by authors such as La Fontaine or Cyrano de Bergerac, collided with the triumphant classicism of Boileau. Faded from collective memory then resurrected by Théophile Gautier, Théophile became a character who haunted Romantics, bibliophiles, and the literary world of the 19th and 20th centuries.

On the occasion of the fourth centenary of his death, the exhibition invites you to rediscover a fertile moment in French literary life. A ghost of an era when one could die for verses, Théophile de Viau participated in the emergence of the figure of the writer in society and questioned the possibility of thinking in poetry, from the Grand Siècle to today.

Curatorship:
Florine Lévecque-Stankiewicz (Bibliothèques Mazarine & de l’Institut de France)
Sophie Tonolo (Dictionary Department, Académie française – Université de Paris-Saclay)

Free guided tours by the exhibition curator:

Tuesday, November 10, 2026 at 6 p.m.
Tuesday, December 1, 2026 at 6 p.m.

Reservation mandatory for guided tours, subject to availability: contact@bibliotheque-mazarine.fr

The Bibliothèque Mazarine is closed on public holidays, as well as on December 24 and 31, 2026.
Exhibition access limited to 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on days of public sessions of the Institute: October 20 and 27, November 9, 18, 24, 27 and 30, December 3, 2026.

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