Sarah Bernhardt: And the Woman Created the Star

When the legendary French stage actress wasn’t interpreting masterpieces by Racine or Shakespeare she could be found playing a starring role for the leading painters of the day, as well as sculpting works of her own. To mark the centenary of her death, the Petit Palais in Paris is paying tribute to France’s most famous thespian (14 April–27 August). Among more than 400 objects on show are costumes and jewellery for some of her most famous roles, and depictions of her by many distinguished friends including Gustave Doré and Alphonse Mucha – but the exhibition also looks past her public persona to her private life, with photographs and an archival film detailing her lavish home furnishings and eclectic tastes. Alongside her own accomplished, Art Nouveau sculptures, the display also includes perhaps the best-known portrait of the actress, Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt (1876) by Bernhardt’s friend and offical portraitist, Georges Clairin, which depicts the actress at home in her house in Monceau Park. Find out more on the Petit Palais’s website.

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Portrait of Sarah Bernhardt (n.d.), Louise Abbéma. Petit Palais, Paris; © Paris Musées / Petit Palais

Cape worn by Bernhardt in Victorien Sardou’s Theodora (1884). Bibliothèque nationale de France. Photo: © Paris Museums/Palais Galliéra-Fashion Museum of Paris; © BnF