Astonishing Things: The Drawings of Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo is one of those polymathic figures who could have been famous for several different reasons. As it happens, he is most celebrated as the writer of works including The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862), but his private passion was drawing and in that department he was no slouch, according to, among others, Van Gogh, who branded Hugo’s works on paper ‘astonishing things’. The Royal Academy has used that quote as the title of this exhibition, which marks the first time Hugo’s drawings have been shown in the UK in half a century argues that Hugo’s writing and drawing go hand in hand (21 March–29 June). The full range of Hugo’s artistic output is on show, from topographical and architectural studies to more fantastical creations, which include mist-shrouded Gothic castles, giant mushrooms and a monstrous brown-ink drawing of an octopus. The display attests to Hugo’s skilful command of his materials – many of his works adeptly combine a number of techniques, including ink wash, charcoal, gouache, ink rubbing and watercolour – as well as his imaginative style that has gone on to inspire artists from André Breton and Max Ernst to Antony Gormley.

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Mushroom (1850), Victor Hugo. Photo: CCØ Paris Musées/Maisons de Victor Hugo

Octopus (1866–69), Victor Hugo. Bibliothèque nationale de France, Département des Manuscrits

The Cheerful Castle (c.1847), Victor Hugo. Photo: CCØ Paris Musées/Maisons de Victor Hugo

Mirror with Birds (1870), Victor Hugo. Photo: CCØ Paris Musées/Maisons de Victor Hugo