How Did Gabrielle Chanel Turn Her Life Into a Legend?

Chanel's exhibition, CULTURE CHANEL "The Woman Who Reads," will be held from Saturday, September 17th, to Sunday, January 8th, 2017, at the Ca' Pesaro International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice.



Her relationships with various artists throughout her life were extremely important, and their interactions shaped her thoughts and works. Building upon the culture of her era, she surveys the 20th century while constructing and expressing the present moment.

CULTURE CHANEL "The Woman Who Reads" will express Gabrielle Chanel's creative world from a completely new perspective. The theme is "her relationship with books and the act of reading." By exploring Gabrielle Chanel's extensive library, from Greek literature to contemporary poets, the exhibition reveals everything from the works that left a significant impression on her life to the woman herself.

In Gabrielle Chanel's apartment at 31 Rue Cambon, bookshelves lined the walls, surrounded by Coromandel screens. Books were a comforting presence by her side, inspiring her creations. From her solitary childhood in an orphanage in Aubazine to her later years, Gabrielle Chanel was guided by various books and their authors, nurturing her imagination and continuing her mystical exploration of the unseen. This led to her unique worldview, which continues to be loved by many celebrities across time.

Gabrielle Chanel's dialogue with books spanned from the classical to the contemporary; she cherished numerous authors such as Homer, Plato, Virgil, Sophocles, Lucretius, Dante, Montaigne, Cervantes, Madame de Sévigné, and Stéphane Mallarmé. She also admired and resonated with writers she was close to, including Pierre Reverdy, Max Jacob, and Jean Cocteau. Through encounters with diverse arts, she found her own unique expression of fashion and of a modernity that transcended time.