Georges Hugo

The Art of Being a Grandson

Georges Hugo (1868-1925), the poet’s grandson, whom he immortalised as a child in The Art of Being a Grandfather, was a contradictory figure throughout his life.

Lulled in an overly happy but grief-ridden childhood, heir to Victor Hugo’s fame in spite of his shyness, rich but profligate, a socialite and an ordinary seaman, a witness to the Belle Époque but also a first-world-war infantryman who sketched life in the trenches in the midst of battle, Georges Hugo was first and foremost an artist at heart, who had grown up marvelling at his grandfather’s drawings. Both an exquisite landscape artist and a pithy chronicler of socialite life and entertainment, he became a memorialist of passing time.

This monographic exhibition pays tribute to him and invites the public to discover the man through his paintings, watercolours and drawings. A number of photographs and family archives – as well as a catalogue in the form of a biography – will provide further insight into this extraordinary, gifted and endearing personality, who once told his son: “I am no role model!”