The first woman Commandeur of the Legion of Honour and a recipient of the Grand Prix de Littérature de l’Académie Française, Anna de Noailles (1876–1933) held a high-profile position in the literary world of Paris from the Belle Epoque to the interwar years. For her, the shores of Lake Geneva were an ever-renewed source of inspiration, from her childhood summers in Amphion, where she “tasted paradise,” to her stays in Evian, Montreux, Morges and Lausanne as an adult. In accordance with her wishes, her heart is buried in the cemetery of Publier, not far from the church in Evian where, in 1897, she married Mathieu de Noailles, and from the votive garden that her friends dedicated to her memory in 1938.
The exhibition Goûter au Paradis. Anna de Noailles on the Shores of Lake Geneva gives pride of place to the collections of the City of Evian from the Marthe Francillon-Lobre donation, the bequest from Anne-Jules de Noailles and subsequent acquisitions, especially her rarely exhibited correspondence, portraits and pastels.

Évian-les-Bains, Maison Gribaldi, April - November 2019