Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s office at the Elysée, a marker of change in continuity

Lhen he entered the Elysée Palace in May 1974, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing shook up icons. No question of settling in the golden room where officiated his two predecessors, Charles de Gaulle and Georges Pompidou. In the former bedroom of Empress Eugénie, he prefers the so-called corner office room, as Emmanuel Macron will do after him. Above all, he rejects the sacrosanct Louis XV style desk made in 1740 by Charles Cressent.

This masterpiece of cabinetmaking became an institution the day the founder of the V^e Republic adopted it. Georges Pompidou has settled there respectfully and all the other presidents will follow the tradition, except François Mitterrand during his second seven-year term. Valéry Giscard d’Estaing does not want it. The Gaullist anointing, the newcomer has nothing to do with it. He chooses continuity, but his own. The affairs of the country will be conducted from the Louis XVI style desk that he already used at the Ministry of Finance then installed in the Louvre Palace.

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This piece is not, however, the most sumptuous achievement of Jean-Henri Riesener, a great cabinetmaker who supplied the royal family, in particular Marie-Antoinette. A bronze decor, six drawers and a side shelf; no false bottom or secret opening. Of less imposing dimensions than those of the famous Cressent, the new center of presidential power entered the collection of the State after having undoubtedly been seized during the Revolution. An oral tradition makes it the office on which the decree devaluing the franc was signed in June 1926 by Raymond Poincaré, who then combined the functions of President of the Council and Minister of Finance. VGE is not superstitious.

split personality

By marking his territory, the new president gives free rein to his own inclinations. ” Valéry Giscard d’Estaing was an authentic lover of 18th century furniture^e centuryrecalls Renaud Serrette, inspector of collections at the Mobilier national. On a personal basis, he had acquired a number of objects, including a clock that belonged to Louis XV and a Sèvres porcelain from Marie-Antoinette. »

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By moving from the Louis XV style to the Louis XVI style, the president elected on the promise of modernizing the country and dusting off politics widens the gap between his hymn to “ change » and his marked appetite for monarchical pomp. A perfect expression of this split personality, a photo of John F. Kennedy is enthroned on the mantelpiece of his office, as well as a set of medals celebrating the glorious reign of Louis XIV.

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