Anna de Noailles, a poet born in Paris in 1876 into a Romanian princely family, published Le Cœur innombrable at twenty-five and became famous overnight. Her salon counted as much as her books: she received Proust and Cocteau lying down, in a room hung with fabrics. In 1921 Belgium elected her to its Academy of French Language, when ours remained closed to women.
The story
Anna Bibesco Bassaraba de Brancovan was born in Paris on 15 November 1876, into a princely Romanian family. She married the comte Mathieu de Noailles and published “Le Cœur innombrable” at twenty-five, in 1901: a sensual, pantheist lyricism that made her famous overnight.
“Les Éblouissements” followed in 1907. Her poetry, turned wholly towards the senses and the natural world, belongs to a tradition she carried to its end at the moment the avant-garde was walking away from it.
Her salon counted for as much as her books. Proust, Cocteau and Barrès came; she received lying down, in a room hung with fabrics, in a staging the whole of Paris talked about.
In 1921 she was the first woman elected to the Belgian Royal Academy of French Language and Literature — the Académie française being closed to her. In 1931 she became the first woman raised to the rank of commander of the Legion of Honour.
She died in Paris on 30 April 1933. Her body lies in Division 28; her heart is at Amphion-les-Bains, in Haute-Savoie, where her family had its house on the shore of Lake Geneva and where her childhood was spent.
The grave
A chapel adorned with frescoes, which is rare in Père-Lachaise, where wall painting withstands neither damp nor time. The inscription gives the poet's double civil status, that of birth and that of marriage: “Anna de Brancovan, comtesse de Noailles”. Nothing there indicates what is missing: her heart rests at Amphion-les-Bains, in Haute-Savoie, on the shore of the Lake Geneva of her childhood. She thus joins the cemetery's small series of divided remains — Grétry, whose heart is in Liège, Boieldieu in Rouen, Jacques-Louis David of whom only the heart is here.
On site, do not miss
The frescoes of the chapel — rare in Père-Lachaise — and the absence of any mention of the heart, left on the shore of Lake Geneva.
Visitors' questions
Where is Anna de Noailles's grave?
In Division 28, chemin du Dragon, first row, in the old, upper part of the cemetery — the Division of Beaumarchais, Barras and Brillat-Savarin. It is a chapel decorated with frescoes.
BeaumarchaisWhere is Anna de Noailles's heart?
At Amphion-les-Bains, in Haute-Savoie, on the shore of Lake Geneva, where her family had a property and where she spent her childhood. Her body rests at Père-Lachaise, in Division 28.
André GrétryWho was Anna de Noailles?
A poet born a Romanian princess, famous from the age of twenty-five with “Le Cœur innombrable” in 1901, whose Paris salon drew Proust, Cocteau and Barrès. She received her guests reclining, in a staged performance the whole of Paris talked about.
Marcel ProustWas she an Academician?
In Belgium: in 1921 she became the first woman elected to the Royal Academy of French Language and Literature, the Académie française being closed to women at the time. She was also a Knight of the Legion of Honour.
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