Les Deux Magots
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1873 |
| Headquarters | Paris , France |
Area served | International |
Key people | Catherine Mathivat (manager since 2012) |
| Products | Café, restaurant services, literary prize hosting |
| Owner | Boulay family (descendants of Auguste Boulay) |
| Website | www |
Les Deux Magots () is a café and restaurant situated at 6, Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris' 6th arrondissement, France. Historically, it served as a gathering place for prominent literary and intellectual figures, including Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso, and James Baldwin. Today, it continues to be a favored spot for visitors. Since 1933, the café has hosted the annual Deux Magots literary prize.
Origin of the name
The term "Magot" refers to a stout figurine originating from the Far East. The establishment's name traces back to a fabric and novelty store located at 23 Rue de Buci, itself named after the 19th-century play Les Deux Magots de la Chine. The two statues inside depict Chinese "mandarins" or "magicians" overseeing the space. The business relocated to Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1873 and transformed into a café and liquoriste by 1884, keeping its original name.
In 1914, Auguste Boulay acquired the struggling enterprise for 400,000 francs. His son later enhanced the café by installing glass walls to maximize natural light while preserving the iconic statues. A Les Deux Magots branch was established in Tokyo in 1989.
Catherine Mathivat, the great-great-granddaughter of Auguste Boulay, began her association with the café in 1993 and assumed management in 2012. By 2016, international visitors constituted 60% of its patrons. In 2017, Mathivat collaborated with her cousin Jacques Vergnaud to renovate the café aiming to attract more local Parisians. The Saint-Germain location recorded €15 million in revenue during 2022. Expansion efforts led to new cafés opening in Riyadh (2023), an additional Tokyo site, and São Paulo (scheduled for December 2023), with future plans targeting locations such as Cape Town, Prague, London, and Guangzhou.
In literature
- In Steve Matchett's The Chariot Makers, Les Deux Magots is described as "the first café in the quarter to be blessed by the morning sun," attracting customers willing to pay extra for this ambiance.
- The café plays a significant role in the novel That Summer in Paris (2006) by Abha Dawesar.
- It serves as the backdrop for an important scene in Katherine Neville’s 1998 novel The Magic Circle, which was exhibited for several months in the café’s windows.
- Leonardo Padura’s 2009 work El hombre que amaba a los perros (The Man who Loved Dogs) depicts the café as where Trotsky's assassin Ramon Mercader waits before his mission to Mexico.
- Marco Missiroli’s novel Atti osceni in luogo privato includes Les Deux Magots through the experiences of "Libero Marsell," whose father, a regular patron, forms a friendship with Albert Camus.
- The café holds a notable place in China Miéville’s novella The Last Days of New Paris (2016).
- It is mentioned in chapter 5, part 1 of Lolita.
- Featured in chapter 8 of Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast.
- Lorna Goodison’s poem At Lunch in Les Deux Magots reflects on its cultural significance.
- James Joyce references it on page 562 of Finnegans Wake.
In graphic novels
- A café with a similar name, Café Deux Magots, is depicted in Morioh, Japan, within Diamond is Unbreakable, the fourth installment of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
In art
- Featured in a 1959 color photograph captured by Saul Leiter.
- Portrayed in a 1967 figurative artwork by Jean-François Debord.[1]
In film
- The location serves as the setting for multiple scenes in the 1949 film The Man on the Eiffel Tower.
- Included in Jean Eustache's 1973 movie The Mother and the Whore.[2]
- Appears in the 2011 film The Intouchables, where characters Philippe (François Cluzet) and Driss (Omar Sy) pause after a nighttime stroll along the Seine.
In television
- The café is shown in a scene from the final episode of NBC’s sitcom The Good Place.
- It was highlighted during a week-long Paris segment on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson in June 2011.
In music
- The café serves as the primary backdrop in the song “A Rose Is A Rose” by artist Poe, which references many of its renowned patrons through the character Jezebel.
In podcasts
- Les Deux Magots’ cocoa plays a significant role in The Amelia Project.
See also
External links
- ↑ fr:Jean-François Debord
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).