Oscar Wilde's tomb

The tomb of Oscar Wilde is located in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France. It took nine to ten months to complete by the sculptor Jacob Epstein, with an accompanying plinth by Charles Holden and an inscription carved by Joseph Cribb.

Commission

In 1908 Oscar Wilde's literary executor Robert Ross chose Jacob Epstein for the commission of the tomb at a cost of two thousand pounds, which had been anonymously donated for this purpose. Later, in a publication of letters between Ada Leverson and Ross in 1930, Letters to the Sphinx, the anonymous donor was revealed to be Helen Carew, with financial assistance from Sydney Schiff aka novelist Stephen Hudson. This was only Epstein's second commission, his first being the sculpture for the British Medical Association building in The Strand; these had been severely criticised for being too sexualised for public consumption. However, Epstein retained some noteworthy supporters within the Wilde circle such as William Rothenstein.

About the tomb

The choice of Oscar Wilde's monument would create controversy. Wilde's supporters would have liked for the monument to derive in some way from Wilde's works, such as The Young King, by invoking homoerotica with figures of forlorn Greek youths, whereas Wilde's detractors believed he was deserving of no monument at all. One can see the influences of Wilde's works in Epstein's original sketches for the tomb, which feature two young men, heads downcast in an image of grief and sorrow upon an empty stone stele. However, Epstein has said of his sketches of the tomb that he "was dissatisfied and scrapped quite completed work".

It has been suggested that the change in design plans are due to Epstein's new focus on Wilde's poem The Sphinx. However, a number of influences began to play on Epstein around this period, including that of fellow sculptor Eric Gill. The two artists were deeply interested in what they saw as the more primal sexuality of Indian and Egyptian art, as opposed to British art. Pennington refers to this period in the Epstein's work as the Sun Temple period and claims that, having been unable to follow this path with some of his works in Britain, Epstein transferred his new passion onto the Wilde tomb.

The monument began as a 20 tonne block of Hopton Wood stone in Derbyshire, England, unveiled to the London press in June 1912. Epstein devised a vast winged figure, a messenger swiftly moving with vertical wings, giving the feeling of forward flight; the conception was purely symbolical, the conception of a poet as a messenger, but many people tried to read into it a portrait of Oscar Wilde.

In the original sketches the influences have been linked to the Winged Assyrian Bulls in the British Museum. The small angel figure behind the ear of the Sphinx may have been a deliberate reference by Epstein to the verse in Wilde's poem The Sphinx "sing me all your memories". Upon the headress there are five figures, one with a crucifix, perhaps symbolising the martyrdom of Oscar Wilde; this may be a recurring theme--Epstein may have chosen the Sphinx with a crucified figure upon the headress in reference to the sensual life choice of Wilde thinly veiled by his Catholicism. In Epstein's original sketchings there is a list of ten sins, however none are recognisable clearly on the final monument apart from the Egyptian-like helmet haircuts on the women.

On the finished monument the small angel behind the ear has been removed and replaced by an elaborate headdress, the crucified figure and the phallic sphinx have been removed and in their place is a personification of fame being trumpeted. This may have been Epstein landing on a less sentimental, carved and angular alternative.

Whilst transporting the monument to the cemetery in France from his Cheyne Walk studios in London, Epstein ran into trouble with the police--having rejected its status as a work of art, French customs placed a punishing import duty of £120 on the monument for the value of the stone. Once the bill was paid (it has been suggested that Robert Ross had borrowed the funds from Ada Leverson) the monument was covered with tarpaulin due to the Parisian officials' reaction to the monument's nakedness. Epstein returned to the cemetery one evening and found that the testicles on the statue had been covered by plaster as the size of the testicles was considered unusual. The monument was under police surveillance and Epstein found he could only continue his work upon it after bribing a police officer to look away, but the work was sporadic and the tarpaulin was replaced at night. Eventually, as compromise, under Robert Ross' instruction, a bronze plaque similar to the shape of butterfly was placed upon the testicles of the monument and it was unveiled in early August 1914 by the occultist and poet Aleister Crowley. Epstein was furious that his work had been altered without his consent and refused to attend the unveiling. A few weeks later Aleister Crowley approached Epstein in a café in Paris and around his neck was a bronze butterfly--he informed Epstein that his work was now on display as he intended.

The testicles were removed in an act of vandalism in 1961. It is said that the cemetery manager used them as a paperweight. They are now missing. In 2000, Leon Johnson, a multimedia artist, installed a silver prosthesis to replace them.

The epitaph is a verse from The Ballad of Reading Gaol:

And alien tears will fill for him

Pity's long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,

And outcasts always mourn.

Today, the monument is viewed by thousands of visitors every year. A tradition developed whereby visitors would kiss the tomb after applying lipstick to their mouth, thereby leaving a "print" of their kiss. In 2011 a glass barrier was erected to make the monument 'kiss proof'.

Sketches

A number of Epstein's sketches for the work have survived, some in private collections and some in galleries, including a profile of the side view in the Garman Ryan Collection at The New Art Gallery Walsall.

References

Notes

Sources

  • Haskell, Epstein (1931). The Sculptor Speaks. London: William Heinemann. 
  • Pennington, Michael (1987). An Angel for a Martyr – Jacob Epstein's tomb for Oscar Wilde. Whitenights Press. ISBN . 

External links

Listed in the following categories:
Post a comment
Tips & Hints
Arrange By:
Vincent
12 May 2019
When visiting this graveyard; stop off at Oscar Wilde grave, then Jim Morrison, Frederic Chopin, Edith Piaf, and Maria Callas. Remember these amazing artists.
Marc Nieder
18 April 2013
Je t'aime, Oscar. You'll be always in my heart!
Death
11 December 2012
☠ must be so beautiful. To lie in soft brown earth, with the grasses waving above one's head, & listen to silence. To have no yesterday & no tomorrow. To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace ☠
Rammuns
25 August 2019
Not that impressive I expected to see as a tomb of Oscar Wild.
John Gibbons
4 April 2012
Surrounded by plexiglass which is covered in graffiti and lipstick kisses.
Andrey Osipov
12 September 2014
С точки зрения оформления это, пожалуй, самое интересное надгробие.
Load more comments
foursquare.com
7.3/10
Peter Kolpashikov and 2,690 more people have been here
Map
Avenue Carette, 75020 Paris, France Get directions
Fri 10:00 AM–6:00 PM
Sat-Sun 11:00 AM–6:00 PM
Mon 11:00 AM–6:00 PM
Tue Noon–6:00 PM
Wed 10:00 AM–6:00 PM

Oscar Wilde's Tomb on Foursquare

Oscar Wilde's tomb on Facebook

Hotels nearby

See all hotels See all
Magnificent Studio Heart of Paris

starting $87

Melia Paris Notre-Dame

starting $678

Hotel Les Rives de Notre Dame

starting $606

Hotel Le Notre Dame

starting $299

Hotel Henri IV Rive Gauche

starting $249

Hotel Esmeralda

starting $99

Recommended sights nearby

See all See all
Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Communards' Wall

The Communards’ Wall (F.: Mur des Fédérés) at the Père Lachaise cemet

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Père Lachaise Cemetery

Père Lachaise Cemetery (French: Cimetière du Père-Lachaise; of

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Opéra Bastille

L'Opéra de la Bastille (Bastille Opera) is a modern opera house in

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Place de la Bastille

The Place de la Bastille is a square in Paris, where the Bastille

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Parc des Buttes Chaumont

The Parc des Buttes Chaumont is a public park in Paris, France. The

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
July Column

The July Column (French: Colonne de Juillet) is a monument to the

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Maison de Victor Hugo

Maison de Victor Hugo is a museum, operated by the the City of Paris,

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Place des Vosges

The Place des Vosges is the oldest planned square in Paris.

Similar tourist attractions

See all See all
Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Daisen Kofun

The Daisen Kofun is a burial mound in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, Japan.

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Green Dome

The Green Dome (Arabic: القبة الخضراء‎, romanized:&

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Thracian tomb Golyama Arsenalka

Golyama Arsenalka mound is a Thracian burial tumulus with a

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Tomb of Napoléon

Tomb of Napoléon is a tourist attraction, one of the Tombs in Paris,

Add to wishlist
I've been here
Visited
Cheonmachong

Cheonmachong, formerly Tomb No.155 in South Korea, is a tumulus

See all similar places