Abstract

Mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, moralist and theologian, Blaise Pascal escapes any attempt at an exhaustive portrait. This exhibition proposes to enter the work of the author by following the thread of the three "orders" which organize Pascalian thought: the body, around "Pascal's unfamiliar face" but also his early inscription in a Intellectual and scientific circle which favors the blossoming of his genius, reason, which Pascal "geometer" pushes to the extreme point where it encounters its limits; The heart, finally, around the apology of the Christian religion of the Pensees. The autograph manuscript and the first copies of the book, which is one of the treasures of the BnF's collections, will shed light on the singular history of the book, whose pages were collected and published posthumously. Presented opposite the mortuary mask of the author, they underline the enigmatic imprint of this philosopher's hollow presence, which he expressed in this way: "Figure bears absence and presence, pleasure and displeasure"--Translation by BnF.