Exposition Théophile de Viau à la Bibliothèque Mazarine

On the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of Théophile de Viau, the exhibition invites visitors to rediscover a fertile moment in French literary life. A ghost of an age when one could die for verse, Théophile de Viau takes part in the emergence of the figure of the writer in society and questions the possibility of thinking through poetry, from the Grand Siècle to today.

From 9 October 2026 to 9 January 2027

Free admission, Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm

23 quai de Conti, 75006 PARIS

A poet of tragic fate and an elusive figure of the Grand Siècle, Théophile de Viau has become the symbol of a scandalous freedom to think, act and write. His work, like his adventurous life, reflects the difficulty of "courir la carrière" in an age marked by strong political, cultural and religious tensions. Born into a Protestant family of minor Gascon nobility, he made his way in Paris through his poetic talent and the support of patrons.

Regarded as the leading figure of the modern men of letters, he was at the height of his fame when booksellers published the Parnasse satyrique, a collection of erotic and materialist 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 public prosecutor Mathieu Molé brought his trial; a war of lampoons broke out.

Sentenced on 18 August 1623 to be burned alive along with his books, he defended himself in verse, composed in his cell at the Conciergerie and then at Chantilly, where he found a final refuge under the protection of the Duke of Montmorency. His legacy, kept alive by the reprints of Georges de Scudéry and Jean Mairet and then by authors such as La Fontaine or Cyrano de Bergerac, came up against the triumphant classicism of Boileau. Faded from collective memory, then revived by Théophile Gautier, Théophile became a figure who haunted the 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 visitors to rediscover a fertile moment in French literary life.