Daumier’s Grave

Have you ever restored a grave?
With this provocative question we started a project in 2003 to restore Daumier’s Grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. We are very happy to announce that the generous engagement of many Daumier friends have made it possible to achieve this goal.

The restauration is accomplished!

May 8, 2007
We are very happy to announce that Daumier’s grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris is now fully restored thanks to all the sponsors who contributed so generously towards this project. We are grateful for your trust and support. Your patience has paid off and we hope that many Daumier friends will have an opportunity to pay a visit to the newly restored grave of which you can see some photos here below.

Photos of Daumier’s grave before restoration

As you can see from the photos, Daumier’s grave is in a run-down condition and desperately needs to be restored. Age and weather conditions have added their share in the past 125 years since Daumier’s death: the inscription has become nearly illegible.

A recent storm added further damage to the stone and to the old metal chain surrounding the grave.

On April 19, 2004, the Mayor of Paris visited the Père Lachaise cemetery in occasion of its 200th anniversary. For this event Daumier’s grave site has been cleaned up, and the path way around the grave has been redone. The tree that had collapsed over Daumier’s grave has been removed.

Photos of the restored grave

As you can see, Daumier’s grave has been cleaned and restored thanks to your financial support. The six pillars have been replaced with new ones and the chain is also new. The next step will be the incision of the text which will be executed exactly the same way as it was before the cleaning.

photograph © by Daniel Bolsinger – www.allinonebox.com

Photo taken by a visitor from Germany in September 2017

The Inscription on the tombstone reads as follows:

DAUMIER
HONORÉ-VICTORIN
né à Marseille en 1808
Mort à Valmondois (S.-et-O.) en 1879

Madame DAUMIER
née MARIE-ALEXANDRINE DASSY
Paris 1822 – Isle-Adam (S.-et-O.) 1895

PEUPLE
Ci-gît DAUMIER, l’Homme de bien,
Le grand artiste, le grand citoyen.

We are very grateful for the generous contributions of these sponsors:

Anonymous, Germany  |  Anonymous, Switzerland  |  Antefelt, Göran, USA  |  Bearden, Sam, USA  |  Beauregard, Philip, USA  |  Blachon, Remi, France  |  Bosco, David, USA  |  Cooley, Lissa, USA  |  Cummings, George, USA  |  DaumierGallery, Switzerland  |  Daumier-Register, Switzerland  |  Deguen, Natalie, France  |  Duquesnoy, Reginald, UK  |  Epifanie, Pierre, France  |  Farrington, Jeremiah, USA  |  Fickewirth, John M., USA  |  Fusco, Cassandra, New Zealand  |  Giraud, Julien, France  |  Hauswedell & Nolte, Germany  |  Hellwig, Hans-Jürgen, Germany  |  Ives, Colta, USA  |  Kleudgen, Dieter, Germany  |  Labau Alain, France  |  Lockhart, John, USA  |  Mason, Steve, USA  |  McDade, Brenda, USA  |  Niechzial, Bärbl, Germany  |  Noack, Dieter and Lilian, Switzerland  |  Oevermann, Ulrich, Germany  |  O‘Hara, Kathleen, USA  |  Pauly, Albert, Germany  |  Pfenninger, Elisabeth, Switzerland  |  Prouté, Paul, France  |  Renault, Jean Michel, France  |  Robbins, Christa, USA  |  Schrank, Harris, USA  |  Spilberg, Zoe, UK  |  Staitman, Jack, USA  |  Vautrin, Italy  |  Wechsler, Judith, USA  |  Weinik, Jennifer, USA

Thank you!

THE FUNDING FOR THIS PROJECT IS NOW COMPLETE. WE THANK ALL THE CONTRIBUTORS FOR THEIR GENEROUS SUPPORT!
In case you would like to support the ongoing work of the DAUMIER REGISTER, we would be very grateful for any contribution.
Have a look at the Become a sponsor of the Daumier Register page of this website.

Le Cimetière du Père Lachaise

Daumier’s grave can be found at nr. 60

Book by Jules Moiroux (1858-1927), former curator of the Père Lachaise Cemetery:

“Le Cimetière du Père Lachaise”