Organized in collaboration with a panel of experts comprising specialists on her work and the period, the exhibition is based on a fresh critical approach dedicated to the epistolary work of this renowned figure. It brings together over two hundred pieces: paintings, objects, and drawings, both from Carnavalet’s collections and large French public and private collections alike.

Marie de Rabutin-Chantal was born in Paris, at the Place Royale (current-day Place des Vosges) on 5 February 1626. She came from an old Burgundian noble family on her father’s side and was raised in Paris by her maternal grandparents, the Coulanges, who provided her with an excellent education, a rare privilege for a young girl at the time. In 1644, she married Henri de Sévigné, a Breton nobleman, with whom she had two children: Françoise Marguerite and Charles. When her husband was killed in a duel in 1651, she was left a widow at the young age of twenty-five.

Dividing her time between the Marais district in Paris and her estate at Les Rochers in Brittany, Madame de Sévigné participated in some of the most refined literary circles of the capital, including those hosted by the Marquise de Rambouillet and Mademoiselle de Scudéry. She played a role in the development of galant culture which flourished at the time into a veritable art de vivre, with an influence on literature and the arts. The majority of Madame de Sévigné’s surviving correspondence consists of letters sent to her daughter who moved to Provence when she married the Comte de Grignan in 1669. Today, this published correspondence is considered both a classic of French literature and an essential work for understanding the history of ideas, customs, and events of the period.

Held at the Hôtel Carnavalet, where the famous Parisian lived from 1677 until her death in 1696, this exhibition explores Madame de Sévigné’s life in Paris at a time when the capital was undergoing significant change. 

General curator 
Valérie Guillaume, Director of the Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris

Scientific curators 
Anne-Laure Sol, Head Curator of the Paintings and Stained Glass Department at the Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris 
Associate Curator : David Simonneau, Head of Drawings at the Graphic Arts Department of the Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris 
In collaboration with: Nathalie Freidel, specialized advisor, Professor at the Department of Languages and Literature, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada

Scientific committee 
Jean-Marc Chatelain, Director of Rare Books, Bibliothèque nationale de France 
Nicolas Courtin, Head of Conservation and Digital Technologies, Archives de Paris 
Laure Depretto, Lecturer, Université d’Orléans 
Aurore Evain, Author, actress, director, and theatre historian 
Geneviève Haroche-Bouzinac, Professor Emeritus, Université d’Orléans 
Hubert Hazebroucq, Choreographer, dancer, researcher, and Director of Les Corps Éloquents (dance company) 
Thierry Sarmant, Archivist palaeographer, curator, Archives nationales 
Mélanie Traversier, Professor of Modern History, Université de Lille, actress

The exhibition has been created with the exceptional participation of the Bibiliothèque nationale de France and the Musée du Louvre.