The French writer Victor Hugo is renowned worldwide for his literary works, particularly his novels The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Les Misérables. However, a new exhibition in the British capital, London, sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of his artistic talent - his drawings. The exhibition, titled Wonderful Things: Drawings by Victor Hugo, opened on Friday at the Royal Academy of Arts and showcases Hugo's fascination with illustrations, 140 years after his death. A highlight of the exhibition is that, despite being a prominent public figure in France during the 19th century, his personal passion was drawing. The Royal Academy of Arts notes that Hugo's visions and drawings, created using techniques such as ink and wash for castles, monsters, and imaginary seascapes, possess a poetic quality that rivals that of his writings. The Academy adds that his works inspired Romantic and Symbolist poets and many artists, including the Surrealists. It has been likened to 'wonderful things' by Vincent van Gogh. For a long time, Hugo's drawings were only shown to his close friends, but he ensured their preservation for future generations by donating them to the French National Library. The exhibition, which runs until June 29 and features around 70 drawings, aims to explore the connection between Hugo's artistic and literary works. Most of the works were created between 1850 and 1870, a period during which he was exiled to the island of Guernsey after Napoleon III's coup in December 1851. During his exile, Hugo completed some of his most important works, including Les Misérables. The exhibition follows the development of his drawing style, from caricatures and travel sketches in his early days to dramatic landscapes and abstract experiments. While his writings were rooted in reality and addressed social issues such as poverty and capital punishment, some of his drawings were more enigmatic, such as the 'Fungus' drawing, which depicts a giant, anthropomorphic fungus.
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