The legendary French poet, playwright, and novelist passed away from pneumonia on May 22, 1885, at the age of 83. By the time of his death, Victor Hugo was a revered national hero who had dominated French literature and politics for over half a century.
The day after his passing—May 23, 1885—his close circle called upon his longtime friend, the famous pioneer photographer Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, better known as Nadar. Nadar rushed to Hugo’s home on Avenue Victor Hugo in Paris to immortalize the great man one last time.
Taking the photograph required careful staging to accommodate the early camera technology and the solemnity of the room. Nadar refused to carry heavy artificial lighting equipment. Instead, his friend Paul Meurice helped him secure permission to throw open the window shutters overlooking the garden.
To control the harsh morning sun, Nadar rigged black drapery across the window and tied it to a bedpost. This isolated Hugo’s face against a dark, somber background. He then placed a mirror to reflect soft natural light back into the shadows on the writer’s face.
Nadar’s son, Paul, later recalled that his father took this iconic photograph while weeping. Paul described the image as his father’s true masterpiece, capturing Hugo looking like “an old worker sleeping peacefully after an honest day’s work.”
Following his death, Hugo’s body lay in state under the Arc de Triomphe, and an estimated two million people joined his funeral procession before he was laid to rest in the Panthéon.
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| Funeral of Victor Hugo on June 1, 1885. |
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