From the Archive: Valentine Hugo

Surrealism and the Subconscious

Hugo in front of her painting The Surrealists, 1935, Photograph by Man Ray

Valentine Hugo was born Valentine Marie Augustine Gross in Boulogne-sur-Mer in 1887, the only daughter of Auguste Gross and Zélie Démelin. Her father, a painter, raised her to share his interests in theatre and music until his death in 1903. Hugo excelled at drawing in school and …