The Musée de la Vie romantique (, Museum of Romantic Life) is one of three literary museums in Paris (along with the Maison de Balzac and the Maison de Victor Hugo). It is located at the foot of Montmartre hill in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The Musée de la Vie romantique is one of the 14 Paris Musées that have been incorporated since January 1, 2013.

Property

The main pavilion, an 1830s hôtel particulier, was the Paris base of the Dutch-born painter Ary Scheffer, one of the prominent artists of the time, close to King Louis-Philippe and his family. For decades, Scheffer and his daughter hosted Friday-evening salons, among the most famous in La Nouvelle Athènes. George Sand used to come as a neighbour with Frédéric Chopin, meeting Eugène Delacroix, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Alphonse de Lamartine, Franz Liszt, Gioacchino Rossini and singer Pauline Viardot. Later in the century, Charles Dickens, Ivan Turgueniev, and Charles Gounod attended regularly. The property remained in private hands and passed by descent until 1982 when it became a museum, under the name of "Musée Renan-Scheffer". After an extensive renovation conducted by Jacques Garcia under the direction of Anne-Marie de Brem, it reopened in 1987 as "Musée de la Vie romantique". Daniel Marchesseau, conservateur général du Patrimoine, was appointed director in November 1998. For 13 years, he developed an ambitious program of exhibitions and acquisitions. Attendance has widely grown, from 18.000 visitors a year (1998) to 145.000 in 2010. He retired in winter 2013. His successor, Jérôme Farigoule, was appointed in September 2013.

Collections

The Museum displays on the first floor numerous mementos of the romantic literary figure George Sand, including family portraits, household possessions, pieces of jewelry and memorabilia including plaster casts by Clésinger of the writer's sensuous right arm and Chopin's delicate left hand, plus a number of her own unique and rare watercolours called "dendrites". On the second floor, one can admire a number of Romantic canvases, sculptures and objets d'art. The Museum also displays several portraits and material related to the famous scholar and writer Ernest Renan who had married Ary Scheffer's niece.

Exhibitions and catalogues

1984 1985 1986 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012