Exposition : A la table de Voltaire

The exhibition will feature nine tables symbolizing the philosopher's travels and stays with his friends. The tour begins with the first table at the Grand Couvert, highlighting French-style service. The journey continues with “Voltaire chez Frédéric II”, evoking his stay in Prussia between 1740 and 1744 and the splendors of the Sans-Souci court; then comes Emilie du Châtelet's table, illustrating the 12 years of near-common life between the two lovers. “Voltaire en Lorraine” takes us back to Stanislas's Thursdays, when philosophical and literary discussions were the order of the day; two other tables evoke the receptions held by Voltaire and Madame Denis in Ferney, while the sixth is that of Ferney's peasants, illustrating Voltaire's custom of offering dinners for visiting farmers. The last two will evoke the tea-time ritual in England, where Voltaire stayed for 3 years, and an imaginary reconstruction of this ritual at the Court of Catherine II of Russia.