At the Louvre with Marcel Proust — 2026

In 1920, seeing the Louvre again after fifteen years' absence, Marcel Proust confessed that he had returned there only rarely since his youth. Yet it was this museum, frequented assiduously during his schooldays, that lastingly shaped his eye for painting. The Société des Amis de Marcel Proust et des Amis de Combray publishes, in a limited original edition, a guide inviting readers to rediscover, within the galleries of the Louvre, the works that run through the Recherche.

Overview

Conceived as an invitation to wander rather than as a catalogue, this book offers three guided visits to the Louvre through Proust's words and tastes. The first explores, in the Richelieu wing, the portraits by the Northern schools that the young Proust admired in the company of his friends Lucien Daudet, Reynaldo Hahn and Robert de Billy. The second follows, in the Denon wing, the paintings that the novelist brought into the Recherche — from Ghirlandaio to Vermeer, by way of the Italian Primitives in the Salle des Sept Mètres. The third, in the Sully wing, retraces the "tribune française" that Proust imagined in 1920 at the request of Jean-Louis Vaudoyer, bringing together the eight paintings of the French school that he judged worthy of a place there.

Each trail combines reproductions of the works, extracts from Proust's writings and correspondence, and practical directions for following the itinerary through the museum today.

Authors and Contributors

Emily Eells, author of the book, is professor emerita at the University of Paris Nanterre and a member of the board of directors of the Société des Amis de Marcel Proust.

Laurence des Cars, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre, writes the foreword.

Antoine Compagnon, of the Académie française, writes the preface.

Éric Unger was responsible for the editing and typesetting.

Jérôme Bastianelli, Anne Imbert and Élyane Dezon-Jones proofread the text.

Guénola Six created the design.

Contents

• Foreword (Laurence des Cars)
• Preface (Antoine Compagnon)
• Introduction
• First Visit: Around Three Portraits of Painters
• Second Visit: The Louvre's Paintings in the Recherche
• Third Visit: Proust's Tribune Française
• Index of Works

Bibliographic Information

• Format: paperback, 174 pages
• ISBN: 978-2-492318-32-0
• Price: 13,90 €
• Edition: original edition limited to two hundred numbered copies, on Fedrigoni Arena Rough paper
• Legal deposit: February 2026
• Publisher: Société des Amis de Marcel Proust et des Amis de Combray