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Origin and history

The tomb of Oscar Wilde, called Flying Demon Angel, is a monumental work located in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris (20th arrondissement). Sculpted between 1911 and 1914 by Jacob Epstein, an American artist, it was funded by Helen Carew, an admirer of the Irish writer. The monument, carved in a 20-ton block of Hopton Wood Stone, is inspired by an Assyrian winged bull exhibited at the British Museum. Since 1950, it has also been home to the ashes of Robert Ross, Wilde's lover and executor.

At its inauguration, the work caused a scandal because of the prominent genital parts of the angel, considered indecent. An anecdote reported that in 1961 two British visitors, shocked, broke the testicles of the statue with stones. The fragments even served as paper clipboards to the cemetery curator for two years. This detail, combined with the tradition of lipstick kisses left by admirers since the 1990s, contributed to the romantic and subversive legend of the monument.

Ranked a historic monument in 1995 (perpetuity grant no.55 PA 1909), the tomb was restored in 2011 thanks to the Wilde family and the Irish government. The missing attributes, such as the sex of the sphinx amputated in 1961, were partially reconstructed in 2000 by a silver prosthesis, an idea of artist Leon Johnson. To preserve the work, two-metre plastic windows were installed in 2011, ending lipstick deposits.

The monument today embodies a literary, artistic and LGBTQ+ symbol, attracting thousands of visitors every year. Its bold style, combining Assyrian influences and modernity, as well as its turbulent history, make it a unique place of pilgrimage to the Lachaise Father. Past controversies and contemporary tributes highlight its status as a cultural icon, far beyond mere burial.

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