Victor Hugo -
The Dark Romanticist

Editors: Hans-Peter Wipplinger, Ivan Ristić

Authors: Stefan Kutzenberger, Ivan Ristić, Raphael Rosenberg

The visionary author Victor Hugo (1802-1885), a figurehead of French Romanticism and homo politicus par excellence, indulged a passion for painting for many decades. Hugo’s freedom in his handling of painterly media was seemingly limitless: daubing in sepia and at times using unconventional materials such as coffee dregs and dust, he often left his depictions to chance, which resulted in images of conjecture and vague possibilities. The exhibition at the Leopold Museum juxtaposed 80 works on paper by Victor Hugo with works by his premodern precursors, including Alexander Cozens and William Turner. Exploring his fruitful connections to personalities from literature and art, Hugo’s double talent was embedded into the context of an eventful era.