Oscar Wilde spent his last night in Paris, at l’Hotel, in Saint-Germain-des-Près, which has become a magnificent 4-star hotel.
A refuge after the scandal
The epitome of French style, L’Hotel was the final resting place of Oscar Wilde. It was between these walls that the author of the Portrait of Dorian Gray died on November 30, 1900, at only 46 years old. This hotel, built in 1824 was previously called “Hôtel d’Alsace. It was under the assumed name of Sebastian Melmoth that the Irish writer found refuge in this hotel in 1898 after two years of hard labor in Reading, England; the price to pay after a resounding scandal linked to his homosexuality.
Weakened by illness
Then a modest establishment on the Left Bank, the Hôtel d’Alsace was the last residence of an Oscar Wilde who was seriously weakened by illness. If we lend him this famous sentence “I die beyond my means” which could make think that the poet lived in luxury, other elements prove that the Hôtel d’Alsace was then only a neighborhood hotel. without particular pomp. Oscar Wilde is said to have said the following in the weeks preceding his death : “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us will have to go”. Wallpaper that can be seen in the image of Wilde on his deathbed made by his friend Maurice Gilbert, and which indeed testifies to an advanced state of disrepair of the hotel.
“The place to be”
Nestled in the heart of the Left Bank, amid the cultural riches, bohemian soul and haute couture of St Germain-des-Prés, the hotel is ideally located to discover the art and culture of Paris. Since the death of Oscar Wilde, the hotel has become “The place to be” for artists. Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis will have stayed there, as well as Franck Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Monica Bellucci, Salvador Dali and Jim Morrison who spent his penultimate night there. Transformed by a British couple who acquired it in 2005 and entrusted the decoration to Jacques Garcia, it has been renovated in the spirit of the 19th century, in particular bedroom 16, the highly demanded Oscar Wilde Suite, on the first floor going up the original staircase, typical of modest Parisian buildings.
L’ hôtel
13 rue des Beaux-Arts, 75006 Paris,
