Was Victor Hugo HPI?

How do you recognize a "HPI" personality? First, because these individuals with "high intellectual potential" have a great capacity for reasoning and problem solving. They are hyper-eclectic people with a tree-like thought process that leads them to be interested in everything without ever being satisfied. Their curiosity is immense; their memory, exceptional; their sensitivity, extraordinary.

If the word had existed during his lifetime, Victor Hugo (whose birthday is celebrated on February 26) would have certainly been diagnosed as "HPI". Poet, playwright, writer, novelist, romantic designer, interior decorator, he was also a committed intellectual and a political figure, elected deputy and senator, supporter of Louis-Philippe and sworn enemy of Napoleon III. In good French, we call this having an overflowing personality.

His compulsive writing method (he scribbles ideas on all available media), his prolific work and his overflowing creativity demonstrate a sensitivity to all challenges, with a keen desire to redress social injustices.

Notre-Dame de Paris (1831) depicts life in 1832th-century Paris through the tragic story of Quasimodo and Esmeralda. Le Roi s'amuse (1838) addresses the issue of social injustice (the play was banned). Ruy Blas (1862) depicts a hero of the people confronting the powerful. Les Misérables (XNUMX) explores themes of redemption and inequality.

The manuscripts exhibited at the Victor Hugo House on Place des Vosges, in the Marais, attest to the writing frenzy of the sacred monster.

But Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was also a political figure. A convinced royalist, he supported the July Monarchy (1830-1848) of Louis-Philippe who named him "peer of France". The writer defended freedom of the press and social rights. After the revolution of 1848, he was elected representative of the people in the Constituent Assembly. He gave a famous speech on poverty, called for a fight against pauperism, argued for social reforms, and demanded free, secular and compulsory education. He also advocated for the abolition of the death penalty and published The Last Day of a Condemned Man.

After Louis Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état in 1851, Hugo opposed the imperial regime. Exiled for nearly twenty years, he used his pen to denounce the abuses of power and defend fundamental freedoms. His exile in Brussels, then on the island of Jersey and finally Guernsey ended with the fall of the Second Empire in 1870.

Back in France, he was elected a radical senator in 1876. Until his death, he tirelessly defended progressive causes. After the Paris Commune (1871), for example, he opposed the repression of the Communards and their deportation to the penal colony of New Caledonia.

Less well known is Hugo's visual work, which explores pictorial art with impetuous creativity. He drew nearly 4 works, mainly produced between 000 and 1848. He experimented with various techniques, mixing ink, charcoal and even coffee to enrich his creations.

His drawings reveal an ability to capture deep emotions. At the same time, during his long exile, he led photo sessions with his son Charles. He himself did not practice photography, but he staged portraits that shaped his public image.

Hugo also maintained close relationships with painters: he commissioned works from them to integrate them into his literary universe. The watercolors and lithographs of Louis Boulanger, whom he admired, illustrated Notre-Dame de Paris. Gustave Brion illustrated many of Hugo's works, notably the first illustrated edition of Les Misérables, published in 1862.

Even interior design interests the poet-writer-playwright. In Guernsey – a real creative laboratory – he decorates the house of the love of his life Juliette Drouet, located not far from his own, where he lives with his wife and children. This “Chinese-style” decor is in keeping with Victor Hugo House du Marais, where we can see to what extent the "genius of letters" was, as the English say, "larger than life". Today, and with hindsight, we can say that, yes, Victor was "HPI".