The Musée Carnavalet - Histoire de Paris presents an exhibition devoted to Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné, a key figure of seventeenth-century French culture and a privileged witness to Parisian life under Louis XIV. Bringing together more than two hundred works including autograph letters, paintings, drawings and objects, the exhibition offers a layered portrait of a woman who turned private writing into a powerful tool for observing her world. Raised in Paris within an aristocratic milieu, Madame de Sévigné is chiefly remembered for her extensive letter-writing, addressed above all to her daughter and to a wide circle of correspondents. In these texts everyday events intertwine with politics, court life and urban change, producing a vivid and shifting portrait of the city. The exhibition highlights how this form of personal writing, far from any official literary ambition, has become an essential source for understanding the society of the Grand Siècle. The display engages directly with the Hôtel Carnavalet, the historic residence once inhabited by the marquise, using the building itself as part of the narrative. The result is a view of Paris from within, shaped by relationships, social rituals and language, where private writing takes on the role of collective memory.
