Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris 1828 - 1890

This is Eugène Cicéri’s “Design for a Stage Set at the Opéra, Paris”, an undated sketch made with graphite on blue paper. Cicéri was a prominent stage designer in 19th century France, a period when opera was a central element of Parisian cultural life, deeply entwined with the city’s social hierarchy. The Paris Opéra was not simply a place of entertainment, it was also a site of social and political display. In Cicéri’s drawing, we can see the beginnings of a stage set, with the bare bones of the design visible through the grid marks. This sketch, with its lone tree stretching into the scene, serves as a backdrop for dramas of human emotion. The tree becomes a silent witness, perhaps suggesting the enduring, impartial presence of nature amid human affairs. The drawing, though incomplete, stirs a sense of anticipation, of a world waiting to be brought to life.