In 2018, Hermès celebrates play in all its forms with its theme of the year, “Let’s play!”. This o ers designer matali crasset and contemporary art specialist Stéphane Corréard an opportunity to surprise visitors with an entertaining and unique experience. Over a nine-month period from March to December 2018, in three phases, the former Hermès store in via Condotti will be trans- formed into a transient store presenting a selection of objects from the entire Hermès collections. Driven by the playful spirit of three inventors of yesteryear, they engage in dialogue with objects from the Émile Hermès collection, Hermès’ Conservatory of Creations collection, and works by contemporary artists.

Magic tricks, illusions and fairground shows all have their place in this remarkable time cap- sule. It features the worlds of Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin, Georges Méliès, and Raymond Roussel, one after another, for three months each. These nineteenth-century French gures, contemporaries of Émile Hermès, grandson of the house’s founder, become the superheroes of a three-stage pageant. Three sequences, three themes (objects, light and words) and three games of prestige – here in the sense of illusion and arti ce – form an itinerary between objects from the collection, curiosities, inventions, tricks, and trunks full of keepsakes. The works of artists Louise Hervé and Chloé Maillet, Yves Netzhammer, and Jean-Michel Alberola echo the worlds of Robert-Houdin, Méliès, and Roussel. They all play a part in this joyful recreation combining décor, trompe-l’œil, a little theatre, optical illusions, and an itinerant home.

The journey depicted appears to have commenced in Rome in March 1908. A lm was screened outdoors in the gardens of the Villa Médicis. Fiction? No one really knows. The only certainty is that Émile Hermès, Georges Méliès and Raymond Roussel could have met there, conversed, and had an enjoyable time... 

Séquence 1 : OBJECTS - Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin 8th March to 18th May 2018