Léon Daniel Saubès, Portrait of Mr. Victor Hugo

3 things you didn't know about Victor Hugo

Published on 14 March 2025

Forget Jean Valjean and Quasimodo, here are three things you might not know about this French polymath.

1. He had a taste for interiors

Hugo once said that he had ‘missed his true vocation’ and was ‘born to be a decorator’. Best known as a writer, he was also a politician, a skilful and inventive draughtsman, and had a passion for interior design.

He renovated his home in Guernsey, Hauteville House, by combining contrasting aesthetics, blending Chinese and Japanese styles of porcelain with heavy oak panelling inspired by European trends, alongside tapestries and silks from across East Asia.

Cover of the Jules Rouff et Cie edition of Les Misérables

2. He lived in exile

When Napoleon III seized power in 1851 and ended the Second Republic, Hugo openly proclaimed him a traitor to the country. Fleeing France, first for Belgium, he lived with his family in Jersey, then Guernsey; his exile lasted nearly twenty years. During this time, Hugo published his famous political pamphlets against Napoleon III and finished some of his best-known works, including Les Misérables.

Funeral of Victor Hugo - the hearse on rue Soufflot — Victor Hugo's House - Hauteville House.

3. There is a crater on Mercury named after him

As well as a decorated literary career spanning 60 years, Hugo’s commitment to democracy and universal suffrage, and his campaigns against the death penalty, for the abolition of slavery and to preserve historic architecture make him one of the most important figures in French history.

When he died, he was given a state funeral that was attended by over 2 million people. There are streets, train stations, hospitals, statues, and even a crater on the planet Mercury named after him.