Hundreds of metres of silk whirling at the end of rods hidden in her sleeves, beneath spotlights she patented: the serpentine dance, which Paris discovered in 1892. Rodin and the Lumière brothers were among her intimates. The signed bronze plaque was stolen.
The story
Paris discovered Loïe Fuller in 1892 and did not at once understand what it was looking at: an American of thirty spinning hundreds of metres of silk on rods hidden in her sleeves, under coloured lights. It came to be called the serpentine dance.
It is not only an art, it is a machine. Fuller designed her own lighting, mixed her own tints, took out patents to protect her systems of coloured light. Nobody before her had made electricity a partner on the stage.
The age recognised itself in her at once. Rodin, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Lumière brothers were among those close to her; Art Nouveau borrowed her curves and the new cinema filmed her veils. She died in Paris on 1 January 1928.
Her ashes are in the columbarium, niche 5,382, in Division 87. The bronze plaque that carried her signature was stolen: of the woman who patented light, nothing is left but a number.
The grave
A columbarium niche, number 5,382, in Division 87 — and a disappearance: the bronze plaque that bore her signature was stolen. The theft of ornaments does not spare Père-Lachaise: the bust of Edmond Adam went in 2006, and so did the palm of Stephen Heller, that of Jules Danbé and the portrait of Ted Lapidus. For the woman who patented her lighting and made light an art, only a number remains.
On site, do not miss
The bronze plaque that bore her signature was stolen: nothing now marks niche 5,382. Note the number before entering the columbarium.
Visitors' questions
Where are Loïe Fuller's ashes?
In the columbarium of Père-Lachaise, niche 5,382, Division 87. Note the number before you go in: the bronze plaque that bore her signature was stolen, and nothing now marks the niche.
Isadora DuncanWas her plaque stolen?
It was: the bronze plaque bearing her signature has gone — one more disappearance at Père-Lachaise, alongside the bust of Edmond Adam, stolen in 2006, and Stephen Heller's palm.
Edmond AdamWhat was her serpentine dance?
Swirling veils lit by electric light: hundreds of metres of silk whipped about by concealed rods, under coloured spotlights of her own design. Paris discovered her as early as 1892.
Jérôme SavaryWhy did she file patents?
Because her dance was a technical invention: she patented her systems of coloured lighting. A friend of Rodin, Toulouse-Lautrec and the Lumière brothers, she worked on the borderline between art and engineering.
The crematorium and the columbariumAudio guide to Père Lachaise: the best unusual guided tour!
Discover the secrets of the most astonishing tombs
the audio guidefrom€6.99