Dwelling and Exile: Vigée Le Brun and the Tools of Her Trade

In October 1789, while the royal family was being forcibly brought back to Paris, Louise-Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun (1755–1842) left the capital. A long exile of twelve years had just begun. Virtually empty-handed, she knew that she could only rely on her painting skills to make ends meet. She was exceptionally attached to the decor(s) and the comfort of her living spaces, especially as she ended up living in a multiplicity of different dwellings. While a majority of early modern female writers never evoke their surroundings, Vigée Le Brun consistently provides the reader of her Souvenirs with very precise descriptions, in the form of evocative representations. This essay aims to analyse the nature and narrative impact of Vigée Le Brun’s attention to her surroundings, as both painter and writer. Given her artistic profession, one might assume that backdrops would be essential within her work. However, while her Souvenirs include numerous detailed representations of her dwellings and physical environment, her paintings do not. Her Souvenirs were begun when she could almost no longer paint; they may have been impacted by the Revolution and by sentimentality, which explains the importance of dwelling in her memoirs, by contrast with her painting.