The Morgan holds the original manuscript and art for one of the world’s most widely read and cherished books, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince (1943). Writing in exile during the second World War, Saint-Exupéry distilled his experience as a pilot into the unforgettable fictive landscape of The Little Prince—a world of wise creatures, headstrong plants, and lovely, lonesome deserts. The exhibition will tell this beloved story through Saint-Exupéry’s remarkable watercolors, drawings, and manuscript drafts, revealing the creative process that brought this work to readers the world over. Photographs, portraits, non-fiction writing, and personal effects will contextualize the author’s milieu, while objects related to the book’s translation and adaptation will follow the subsequent travels of The Little Prince across world languages and media. The Little Prince: Taking Flight explores the visionary artistry and timeless wisdom of this classic tale, a story that inspires its readers to encounter new realms of experience with a leap of the imagination.
The Little Prince: Taking Flight is made possible by Katharine J. Rayner.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. "Le petit prince survolant une planète avec montagnes et fleuve." [New York, 1942]. MA 2592.34.