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Curated playlist

Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

  • Oscar WildeOscar Wilde was convicted at the height of his fame, with two plays running in London's West End.
  • Eléonore Denuelle de La PlaigneA son born in 1806 proved Napoleon could father an heir. His mother was Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne.
  • Max ErnstMax Ernst wrote that he died in 1914 and was resurrected in 1918. He meant his years as a soldier.
  • MolièreMolière collapsed on stage in 1673 while playing a fake sick man. He insisted on finishing the play.
  • Gioachino RossiniRossini wrote his last opera in his thirties, then never wrote another for 40 years.
  • Eugène BurnoufEugène Burnouf died in 1852, the same year his Lotus Sutra translation finally appeared in print.
  • Jim MorrisonOn live TV in 1967, Jim Morrison sang a lyric censors had told him to change. Ed Sullivan then banned the Doors.
  • Eugène DelacroixTalleyrand privately considered himself the real father of the painter Eugène Delacroix.
  • Édouard DaladierCheering Parisians greeted Édouard Daladier in 1938, and he privately called them fools.
  • Jacques-Louis DavidNapoleon never sat for David's painting of his own coronation. Pope Pius VII did, and blessed the painter.
  • Joachim MuratFacing a firing squad in 1815, Joachim Murat told his soldiers to aim at his heart. He had asked for a scented bath.
  • Édouard DetailleÉdouard Detaille was described as the "semi-official artist of the French army," a label very few painters have ever earned. Jean-Baptiste Édouard Detaille was born on the 5th of October 1848 and died on the 23rd of December 1912. In those…
  • Paul BarrasPaul Barras helped rule France as a Director, then Napoleon interned him in Montpellier.
  • Antoine-Jean GrosPainter Antoine-Jean Gros drowned himself in a river outside Paris after reading reviews of his final exhibition.
  • Emmanuel Joseph SieyèsA Catholic priest who scorned religion wrote the French Revolution's rallying cry.
  • Louis-Guillaume OttoA diplomat's 1799 letter holds the earliest recorded use of "Industrial Revolution" in French.
  • Joseph FourierJoseph Fourier's heat research led to the first scientific proposal of the greenhouse effect.
  • Charles-Pierre AugereauAt Castiglione in 1796, Augereau held off the main Austrian army with 11,000 men. It gave Bonaparte time to win.
  • Jean-Baptiste SayNapoleon's government removed economist Jean-Baptiste Say from office in 1804. He then built a cotton mill instead.
  • Charles de SteubenPoet Friedrich Schiller saw the talent of Charles de Steuben when he was a young court page.
  • Charles-François LebrunA relative stole the record of his prosecution, saving Charles-François Lebrun from the guillotine.
  • Jean-Jacques-Régis de CambacérèsCambacérès voted to convict Louis XVI but wanted the execution delayed. That careful vote later helped save him.
  • Louis ViscontiLouis Visconti designed Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides in Paris. He first planned the city's 1840 decorations.
  • Alexandre Colonna-WalewskiAt four, Alexandre Colonna-Walewski visited exiled Napoleon on Elba. Islanders mistook him for Napoleon's heir.
  • Gustave DoréBritish critics disliked Gustave Doré's book of London, saying he drew its poverty. Van Gogh painted one scene.
  • Michel NeyMarshal Michel Ney gave the order to fire at his own execution. Napoleon had called him "the bravest of the brave."
  • Jules MicheletHistorian Jules Michelet was the first to use "Renaissance" for a whole era.

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