The Original Influencer Was French—A Show Dedicated to Sarah Bernhardt Celebrates the World’s First Superstar

A centenary after her death, the most famous French actress of all time, Sarah Bernhardt—aka “the Divine Sarah”—is back for an encore in a specular, sprawling exhibition that opened at the Petit Palais last weekend. But anyone who expects a sepia-tinged, neo-Romantic stroll through a career that took off during the Second Empire is in for a few surprises. Subtitled “Et la femme créa la star” (“And the Woman Created the Star”), the show presents Bernhardt as a fashion icon despite her unconventional physique; she was also a one-woman brand, a disruptor, a shrewd marketer, and a talented plastic artist. A diva and a workhorse, she flouted social norms, relished eccentricity, and loved freely—her relationship with the artist Louise Abbéma is a throughline in her life.

“What a way she has of being legendary and modern,” marveled Edmond Rostand, the dramatist famed for Cyrano de Bergerac, who penned the play L’Aiglon for Bernhardt to star in—as Napoléon II, who never ruled—at the Exposition Universelle of 1900. For Victor Hugo, she was the “Voix d’Or” (“Golden Voice”), and in 1891 hers was one of the first immortalized by Thomas Edison. For Marcel Proust, Bernhardt inspired the actress La Berma in In Search of Lost Time. And it was for her that Jean Cocteau coined the translation-defying term monstre sacré.

Arguably, her cult status and trend-defining, gender-bending way—however relevant in contemporary culture—have yet to be equaled. “She definitely understood the power of image, marketing, and buzz, even when it was less than flattering,” co-curator Stéphanie Cantarutti said during a private visit. “We kept trying to come up with today’s equivalent, but there are none. You’d have to fuse the beauty of Catherine Deneuve, plus Madonna and Lady Gaga for their provocative sides—maybe a little Kim Kardashian, for her social media flair—but even then it’s not quite to scale.” Not even Marilyn Monroe—who in The Seven-Year Itch dreams of becoming more famous than Bernhardt—comes close.

A prodigious nearly 60-year career as the first multi-hyphenate actress, director, producer, costume designer, and impresario and a prophetic instinct for fashion, new technologies, and the leveraging of celebrity through collaborations, endorsements, and merch, let Bernhardt write the playbook that reigns to this day. Here, a few examples.

The Clothes are the Message

White was Sarah Bernhardt’s signature color, onstage and off. At the Petit Palais, the visitor is greeted by the actress’s favorite portrait, painted by her friend and lover Georges Clarin, depicting her in a white satin déshabillé. It was shown at the Salon of 1876 and featured prominently in Bernhardt’s home for the rest of her life. Today, it is a jewel in the permanent collection at the Petit Palais. Further along, a photograph by Nadar of Bernhardt in costume for Pierrot Assassin looks as modern now as it did in 1883.

“Otherness” Made Her a Chameleon

A slight 5’4” at a time when more voluptuous actresses were the norm, Bernhardt played up difference by taking on men’s roles. That decision led to her breakout; she later triumphed as Hamlet, even performing in Stratford-Upon-Avon (in French). “The possibilities were so much broader for men, she never saw why she would give that up until women’s roles were as interesting,” noted Cantarutti.

Eccentricity Only Builds Mystique

Bernhardt’s taste for the exotic, florid, bizarre, and even morbid—a pet monkey named Darwin, lion and leopard cubs, Japanese Edo tigers in lacquered wood, human skulls, bat accessories, etc—fired the public’s imagination. One eerie photo shows her napping in a white satin-lined coffin (in later life, she said she used the coffin as a “tomb for love letters”). In another photograph taken at the turn of the century, she wears a taxidermied bat hat. “And this is pre-Schiaparelli,” Cantarutti pointed out. Bat figures, at the time, were also sometimes used as code by lesbians.

More is Always More

Bernhardt’s maximalist costumes and décor sparked trends all on their own. “In the days before couture, everything she wore onstage set a fashion agenda,” said Cantarutti. A Napoleon costume by the dressmaker Jacques Doucet could be ordered in children’s sizes. Over at the Ritz Paris, a strawberries and cream dessert was named after the actress, too.

She Elevated Unknown Talents

When Bernhardt chose an unknown Czech artist to design her poster for Gismonda, advertising formats and Alphonse Mucha’s fortunes transformed overnight.

A Star System is Born

For her first US tour—of 56 cities, in 1880—Bernhardt traveled with about 40 trunks, some of them by Louis Vuitton, and chartered her own Pullman train. “Her costumes were so sumptuous, US customs officers though she was importing luxury goods to sell,” Cantarutti explained. She also brought her own Barnum tent, in case venues in cities like Nashville, Columbus, or Syracuse weren’t large enough, non-existent (as in Dallas), or in case theater owners proved unwelcoming. Mark Twain wrote: “There are five kinds of actresses: bad actresses, fair actresses, good actresses, great actresses, and Sarah Bernhardt.”

Merch Rules

A century or so before Linda Evangelista’s infamous quip about not getting out of bed for less than $10,000, Bernhardt was the first to insist on being paid before photo shoots, for a then-hefty $1,500 rate (about $54,000 in today’s dollars). In addition to the usual postcards and posters, she lent her name to an unprecedented array of merch: feather fans, corsets, boots, and more, and endorsed everything from rice powder for the face to absinthe, LU biscuits, and American cigarettes.

The Queen of the Superproduction

Eighty years before Elizabeth Taylor became Cleopatra on-screen, Bernhardt played that role; jewels and costumes from that play and others, like Theodora, are shown here. Some of the Cleopatra jewels are on loan from private collectors, including the fan (and onetime designer) Countess Jacqueline de Ribes.

An Early Feminist

“Sarah Bernhardt wasn’t a woman who needed to be ‘completed,’ she wanted to do something with her life,” said Cantarutti. When her mother objected to an art career, she became a demi-mondaine, then enrolled at the Conservatory and at 25, found success as an actress. Later, she returned to painting and sculpting. This self-portrait bust (above) is among the show’s highlights.

She Had a Mantra: “Quand-Même”

The phrase means “even so” or “despite everything,” and is said to date a childhood dare about jumping hurdles. Bernhardt had it emblazoned on everything from a standing mirror, a wrought iron coat rack, and furniture to cosmetic jars, stationery, and towels.

She Embraced New Technology

When hot-air balloons were new, Bernhardt caused a scandal by jumping right in. She was on board, too, with Edison’s phonograph, and with the nascent film business. In the US, the success of her four-reel silent movie The Loves of Queen Elizabeth, in 1912—the first feature film shown in the US—was such that Adolph Zukor, who distributed it, was able to co-found Paramount.

She Kept the Baby Daddy Secret

Born to a Dutch Jewish courtesan and an unknown father, Bernhardt never publicly named the Belgian prince who fathered her only child, Maurice. Maurice later remarked that his mother’s name had greater clout and perks than royal lineage.

Health Challenges Changed Nothing

In 1915, tuberculosis claimed Bernhardt’s right leg but she continued to act right up until her death at 79. The last scenes of her final film La Voyante were shot in her home. More than 40,000 mourners lined up outside her hotel particulier to sign the condolence book.

“Sarah Bernhardt: Et la femme Créa la Star” runs through August 27, 2023, at Paris’s Petit Palais.