PARIS: After Hollywood’s “Napoleon” exposed the legendary emperor to a new generation, over 100 relics — which shaped empires, broke hearts and spawned centuries of fascination — are on display in Paris ahead of what experts call one of the most important Napoleonic auctions ever staged.
His battered military hat. A sleeve from his red velvet coat. Even the divorce papers that ended one of history’s most tormented romances — with Josephine, the empress who haunted him to the end.
Two centuries after his downfall, Napoleon remains both revered and controversial in France — but above all, unavoidable. Polls have shown that many admire his vision and achievements, while others condemn his wars and authoritarian rule. Nearly all agree his legacy still shapes the nation.
“These are not just museum pieces. They’re fragments of a life that changed history,” said Louis-Xavier Joseph, Sotheby’s head of European furniture, who helped assemble the trove. “You can literally hold a piece of Napoleon’s world in your hand.”
From battlefields to boudoirs
The auction — aiming to make in excess of 7 million euros  — is a biography in objects. The centerpiece is Napoleon’s iconic bicorne hat, the black felt chapeau he wore in battle — with wings parallel to his shoulders — so soldiers and enemies could spot him instantly through the gunpowder haze.
“Put a bicorne on a table, and people think of Napoleon immediately,” Joseph said. “It’s like the laurel crown of Julius Caesar.”
The hat is estimated to sell for at least over half a million dollars.
For all the pageantry — throne, swords, the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honor — the auction’s true power comes from its intimacy. It includes the handwritten codicil of Napoleon’s final will, composed in paranoia and illness on Saint Helena.
There is the heartbreakingly personal: the red portfolio that once contained his divorce decree from Josephine, the religious marriage certificate that formalized their love and a dressing table designed for the empress. Her famed mirror reflects the ambition and tragedy of their alliance.
“Napoleon was a great lover; his letters that he wrote are full of fervor, of love, of passion,” Joseph said. “It was also a man who paid attention to his image. Maybe one of the first to be so careful of his image, both public and private.”
A new generation of exposure
The auction’s timing is cinematic. The 2023 biopic grossed over $220 million worldwide and reanimated Napoleon’s myth for a TikTok generation hungry for stories of ambition, downfall and doomed romance.
The auction preview is open to the public, running through June 24, with the auction set for June 25.
Not far from the Arc de Triomphe monument dedicated to the general’s victories, Djamal Oussedik, 22, shrugged: “Everyone grows up with Napoleon, for better or worse. Some people admire him, others blame him for everything. But to see his hat and his bed, you remember he was a real man, not just a legend.”
“You can’t escape him, even if you wanted to. He’s part of being French,” said teacher Laure Mallet, 51.
History as spectacle
The exhibition is a spectacle crafted by celebrity designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, famed for dressing Lady Gaga and Pope John Paul II.
“I wanted to electrify history,” Castelbajac said. “This isn’t a mausoleum, it’s a pop culture installation. Today’s collectors buy a Napoleon artifact the way they’d buy a guitar from Jimi Hendrix. They want a cabinet of curiosities.”
He’s filled the show with fog, hypnotic music and immersive rooms. One is inspired by the camouflage colors of Fontainebleau. Another is anchored by Napoleon’s legendary folding bed. “I create the fog in the entrance of the Sotheby’s building because the elements of nature were an accomplice to Napoleon’s strategy,” the designer said.
Castelbajac, who said his ancestor fought in Napoleon’s Russian campaign, brought a personal touch. “I covered the emperor’s bed in original canvas. You can feel he was just alone, facing all he had built. There’s a ghostly presence.”
He even created something Napoleon only dreamed of. “Napoleon always wanted a green flag instead of the blue, white, red tricolore of the revolution,” he said, smiling. “He never got one. So I made it for Sotheby’s.”

WASHINGTON: A tuxedo-wearing President Donald Trump was booed and cheered as he took his seat for the opening night of “Les Misérables” at the Kennedy Center, bringing his own dose of political drama to the theatrical production that was unfolding onstage.
It was his first time attending a show there since becoming president, reflecting his focus on remaking the institution in his image while asserting more control over the country’s cultural landscape.
“We want to bring it back, and we want to bring it back better than ever,” Trump said while walking down the red carpet with first lady Melania Trump.
The Republican president has a particular affection for “Les Misérables,” the sprawling musical set in 19th-century France, and has occasionally played its songs at his events. One of them, “Do You Hear the People Sing?,” is a revolutionary rallying cry inspired by the 1832 rebellion against the French king.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom noted Trump’s attendance at the musical and posted on social media, “Someone explain the plot to him.” Newsom, a Democrat, has been feuding with Trump over the president’s decision to send National Guard troops to respond to protests in Los Angeles over his deportation policies.
Opening night had a MAGA-does-Broadway feel. Ric Grenell, the Trump-appointed interim leader of the Kennedy Center, stood nearby as the president spoke to reporters. Attorney General Pam Bondi chatted with other guests. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took selfies with attendees. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, were also there.
There were more precautions than usual, given the guest list, and ticketholders had their bags searched after walking through magnetometers. Canned soda was on sale for $8, while a glass of wine cost $19.
Terry Gee, a bartender, bought his ticket for the show in November and didn’t mind Trump’s presence. It’s his sixth time seeing “Les Misérables,” and he said, “I’m going to enjoy the show regardless.”
Hannah Watkins, a nurse, only learned that Trump would be there when the Kennedy Center distributed information about extra security and she searched online to see what was happening.
“I’ve seen a lot of famous people so far, which is exciting,” said Watkins, who had claimed a spot near the VIP entrance with her mother. “Honestly, we just like ‘Les Mis’ and are excited to be here.”
However, when the lights went down and the show began, there were empty seats in the balconies and even in the orchestra section.
Before Trump, presidential involvement in the Kennedy Center’s affairs had been limited to naming members to the board of trustees and attending the taping of its annual honors program in the fall.
But after returning to office in January, Trump stunned the arts world by firing the Kennedy Center’s longtime director and board and replacing them with loyalists, who then named him as chairman. Trump promised to overhaul its programming, management and even appearance as part of an effort to put his stamp on the national arts scene.
His latest moves have upset some of the center’s patrons and performers.
In March, the audience booed the Vances after they slipped into upper-level seats to hear the National Symphony Orchestra. Trump appointed Usha Vance to the Kennedy Center board along with Bondi, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and Fox News Channel hosts Maria Bartiromo and Laura Ingraham, among other supporters.
Sales of subscription packages are said to have declined since Trump’s takeover, and several touring productions, including “Hamilton,” have canceled planned runs at the center. Actor Issa Rae and musician Rhiannon Giddens scrapped scheduled appearances, and Kennedy Center consultants including musician Ben Folds and singer Renée Fleming resigned.
Understudies may have performed in some roles Wednesday night because of boycotts by “Les Misérables” cast members, but Trump said he wasn’t bothered by anyone skipping the performance.
“I couldn’t care less,” he said.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has adopted a more aggressive posture toward the arts. The White House has taken steps to cancel millions of dollars in previously awarded federal humanities grants to arts and culture groups, and Trump’s budget blueprint proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Trump has also targeted Smithsonian museums by signing executive orders to restrict their funding and by attempting to fire the director of the National Portrait Gallery.
Trump characterized previous programming at the Kennedy Center as “out of control with rampant political propaganda” and said it featured “some very inappropriate shows,” including a “Marxist anti-police performance” and “lesbian-only Shakespeare.”
The Kennedy Center, which is supported by government money and private donations, opened in 1971 and for decades has been seen as an apolitical celebration of the arts.
It was first conceived in the late 1950s during the administration of Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, who backed a bill from the Democratic-led Congress calling for a National Culture Center. In the early 1960s, Democratic President John F. Kennedy launched a fundraising initiative, and his successor, President Lyndon B. Johnson, signed into law a 1964 bill renaming the project the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts. Kennedy had been assassinated the year before.