Sorcières : fantasmes, savoirs, liberté, 1860-1920

Exhibition at the Musée de Pont-Aven, 7 June - 16 November 2025

At the heart of our collective imagination, witches have long been the allegory of old age, death, vice and evil. They are associated with the supernatural, with nature, with what is frightening and beyond our control. But 1862 marked a break with the publication of Jules Michelet's La Sorcière: the witch became an emblem of revolt, knowledge and harmony with the natural elements, laying the foundations for eco-feminism.

Divided into three main sections metaphorically linked to fire, this exhibition catalogue offers a fascinating insight into the evolution of the figure of the witch in Western art and culture between the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through a series of paintings, sculptures, photographs and literary extracts, it highlights the transformation of the witch from a symbol of fear to an icon of resistance and knowledge. The artists featured include Paul-Élie Ranson, Odilon Redon, Eugène Grasset, Evelyn de Morgan and John William Waterhouse.