Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Maison des Ailleurs is a place dedicated to the poet Arthur Rimbaud, located in his hometown of Charleville-Mézières. It occupies a building whose apartment was inhabited by the Rimbaud family between 1869 and 1875, when the poet, aged 15 to 21, produced much of his work while multiplying the fugues. This place, complementary to the nearby Arthur-Rimbaud Museum, symbolizes its rejection of family agreements and its aspiration to other horizons. A commemorative plaque was placed there in 1954, for the centenary of his birth.

Between 1999 and 2003, the city acquired the three levels of the house, its courtyard and an outbuilding. Inaugurated in 2004 for the poet's 150th anniversary, Maison des Ailleurs is not a traditional museum, but a place of memory labeled Maison des Illustres. No reconstitution is presented: the pieces, left naked, preserve the traces of time, inviting to the imagination rather than to the exhibition of objects.

The scenography, designed in 2004 by a collective of architects, landscapers and artists, evokes Les Ailleurs de Rimbaud (Marseille, Paris, Brussels, etc.) through audiovisual installations. Each floor corresponds to a period of his life: the first, dedicated to writing, and the second, to his journeys. Contemporary artists, such as Emmanuel Adely or Thomas Köner, contributed with sound and visual works. The ground floor houses a shop and a studio for artists' residences.

The Maison des Ailleurs also offers temporary exhibitions, exploring Rimbaud's legacy in contemporary art. These include tributes to A Season in Hell (2023) or dialogues between poetry and visual arts, such as the works of Pete Doherty (2018) or Ulrike Nagel (2020). This atypical place is distinguished by its immersive approach, combining historical memory and artistic creation.

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