Program

In 1958, Jean Cocteau agreed, at the request of the elected representatives of Milly-la-Forêt, to decorate the small chapel of Saint Blaise, located on the outskirts of the village. For this former leper chapel, Cocteau drew inspiration from the medicinal plants, known as Simples, grown in Milly: marshmallow, belladonna, valerian, buttercup, colchicum, henbane, gentian and mint. These large colourful stems, stretching from the floor to the roof along the walls, surround a scene depicting the Resurrection of Christ.

Paying homage to Milly's specialities, the artist repeated a monumental work, following on from those brilliantly executed in the south of France. The scene of the Resurrection of Christ is particularly striking, with its idea of souls ascending to heaven, while Cocteau suggests, through the epitaph engraved on the poet's tombstone, ‘I remain with you’, that this is not the case for his work. Stained glass windows with anthropomorphic geometric motifs, designed by Cocteau and created by a German master glassmaker, complete the ensemble.

Curated by: GIP Maison Jean Cocteau, Muriel Genthon.
Scenography: Frédéric Beauclair.

From the 1900s until Colette's death in 1954, Jean Cocteau and Colette shared a friendship, and an artistic and intellectual complicity, like no other. Between the earthbound woman and the tightrope walker, how could such a bond ever have existed? The exhibition Colette, a Big Sister invites you to discover its many facets. It opens on the memory of their first meeting at the Palais de Glace on the Champs-Élysées in 1903, when Cocteau, still an adolescent, caught sight of Colette in cycling dress, a devotee of the pleasures and haunts of Belle Époque Paris. Before becoming her friend and accomplice, Cocteau was fascinated by a young woman who cast off social convention and lived freely, even at the risk of scandal. In the 1930s, as Colette came into her own as an acclaimed writer, the two grew closer still. Neighbours at the Palais-Royal in Paris, they nurtured their friendship through frequent visits, walks in that garden "for grown-ups", and affectionate letters.

As he watched his elder's strength wane, Cocteau became, in Colette's final years, an attentive and loving presence, while she recognised in him the poet who dares everything.

The exhibition gathers drawings, photographs, letters and quotations that bear witness, year after year, to this friendship. At its heart: Cocteau's Portrait of Colette, drawn in charcoal and flour, exceptionally lent by the Centre Pompidou, and an extract from Yannick Bellon's documentary, in which the two old accomplices talk of everything and nothing.

An illustrated booklet accompanies the exhibition. With contributions from two scholars, Nicole Ferrier-Caverivière and David Gullentops, it offers a deeper sense of what drew these two monstres sacrés together, and what fascinated each about the other.

The exhibition is included in your visit to the Maison.

Curated by: GIP Maison Jean Cocteau, Muriel Genthon.
Scenography: Frédéric Beauclair.

In 1955, Bernard Buffet painted this large portrait of Jean Cocteau. A major figure in 20th-century art, he met Cocteau in the late 1940s and went on to illustrate La Voix humaine. With his incisive line and stripped-back composition, the painter reveals a presence at once intense, silent and deeply singular.

This meeting of two artists with very personal worlds bears witness to the creative ferment of the post-war years. Now hanging in the house at Milly, the painting takes on a particular resonance: it enters into conversation with the objects, works and memories that make up the artist's private world in Milly-la-Forêt.

Lent by the Centre Pompidou for the occasion, the portrait is on view in the vestibule of the Maison Jean Cocteau until 1 November 2026.

"But Sunday numbs the left hand, the one with which one is a poet, and frees the right hand, the one with which one is a friend." — Jacques-Émile Blanche / Jean Cocteau, Correspondance, 1912–1939, La Table Ronde.

Thanks to the generosity of the Musée national d'art moderne (Centre Pompidou), its director Xavier Rey and Christian Briend, director of the modern collections, the Maison Jean Cocteau welcomes an exceptional loan this year: the portrait of Jean Cocteau at 22, by Jacques-Émile Blanche. Painted in 1912, it is one of four portraits of Cocteau that Blanche made between 1912 and 1913. They bear witness to the friendship the 51-year-old painter felt for the young poet, while Cocteau, through their letters and his stays at Offranville in Normandy, wove a bond of affection with this older man, deepened by the image of a father he never had.

On view until 1 November 2026.

Following the exhibition devoted to the Marais–Cocteau couple, Colette, une grande sœur invites visitors to discover the many facets of Cocteau's friendships. His bond with Colette (1873–1954) took many forms. He was her "little brother" indeed, when, as a teenager, he crossed paths with a free-spirited young woman; and he remained so, attentive to the hardships of old age, when later he became inseparable from a failing companion.

Thanks to the contribution of Nicole Ferrier-Caverivière, agrégée in literature and doctor of letters, this friendship is traced through every stage of their lives. It begins with the happy childhoods whose tenderness both would carry with them for life. Then comes the woman who, in the early years of the twentieth century, claims her emancipation; a few years later, she is answered by the fascination of a young man sixteen years her junior, who disowns his first poems to find himself in the nonconformism of a free woman. Nicole Ferrier-Caverivière shows how this scandalous side, so far from the image of the respectable old lady of her final years, lies at the root of the deep friendship that bound these two writers.

For David Gullentops, professor emeritus at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and a leading specialist of Cocteau's work, the tribute Cocteau delivered in 1955 on joining the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium, where he took his friend's seat, is a chance to show how this friendship nourished the poet's path and his work. Drawing on numerous references to Cocteau's writings and public addresses, his text unravels the themes on which the tribute rests, brings to light its sources of inspiration, and reveals the images of her that Cocteau kept.

This illustrated booklet is a companion to your visit of the exhibition Colette, une grande sœur (see Exhibitions). The Maison Jean Cocteau exists to help us understand this artist's place in his century, within the enchanted setting he left us, one that endures thanks to the Île-de-France Region. Not to be missed.

A conversation between Nicole Ferrier-Caverivière and Frédéric Maget

To mark the 63rd anniversary of Jean Cocteau's death on 11 October 2026, and in echo of the exhibition Colette, an Elder Sister on the Maison's second floor, we will welcome two Cocteau scholars for a conversation between them, wandering the paths of Colette that crossed Cocteau's own.

Nicole Ferrier-Caverivière, agrégée de lettres (holder of the French agrégation in literature), doctor of literature.

Frédéric Maget, director of the Maison Colette in Saint-Sauveur-en-Puisaye.

As part of the 10th edition of the "Patrimoine en poésie" competition, the Maison Jean Cocteau welcomed seven young people with disabilities from the Gillevoisin medical-educational institute for a day filled with discovery and creativity.

On the programme: an adapted tour of the house led by one of our mediators, a walk through the garden, and an acrostic writing workshop facilitated by Chloé Beaudet.

A multi-talented artist – author, director, actress and poet – Chloé Beaudet participated as part of the partnership with the "Culture du Cœur" association. We invite you to discover the poetic creations of Warren, Wanyss, Hugo, Christophe, Nolan and Luis, who each found their own way to celebrate their heritage through words.