Sorcières ! À trop chercher le Diable...
Auteur(s) : Krystel Gualdé (dir.)
Exhibition at the Château des Ducs de Bretagne, Nantes, 7 February to 28 June 2026
Often reduced to a popular icon or fantastical archetype, witches defy simplification. The magicians of Antiquity, whose rites and practices were known to all, were exalted by ancient poets and authors. The medieval period saw the Inquisition trials, followed in the 16th and 17th centuries by the intensification of witch hunts, before the gradual decriminalisation of occult practices and the contemporary reappropriation of the image of the witch, now perceived as a figure of power, freed from any demonic connotations.
Bringing together nearly 180 works and objects – engravings, paintings, ancient manuscripts, objects of worship or witchcraft – from prestigious French and European institutions, as well as multimedia devices – films, testimonials, animated maps, sound design – this exhibition catalogue offers a critical reinterpretation of the complex figure of the witch, combining historical and cultural approaches to female magicians from Antiquity to contemporary feminist figures.
Through the study of theological texts and demonological theories from the medieval period, witchcraft trials from the Renaissance and modern era, symbolic constructions, artistic representations, image reversals and social constructions, it seeks to reconstruct the different understandings of what the term “witch” can cover. Taking a comprehensive approach, it questions the historical realities of witch hunts in relation to our own era.
