Dreams of Stones: A Visit Between Poetry and Imagination
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What if we started the year by letting our imagination soar? Here’s what the exhibition Dreams of Stones: Poetry and Minerals by Roger Caillois offers. Presented until March 29, 2026, at the École des Arts Joailliers Van Cleef & Arpels, in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Paris, the installation unveils to the public a collection of the most fascinating treasures. Combining nature’s wonders with poetic thoughts, it’s an enchanting visit where landscapes reveal themselves at the heart of the stones and enter into dialogue with the words of the collector.
The exhibition that teaches us to observe and imagine again
Between landscape, face, silhouette, or three-dimensional sculpture, the minerals presented at the Dreams of Stones exhibition become full-fledged narrators. Displayed as works of art, these pieces unveil well-kept secrets, ready to play with our imagination.
Indeed, their cuts, made unexpectedly, reveal rich inner worlds of colors, patterns, transparency effects, marks of time, and other molecular mixtures. These treasures of nature resemble paintings, ready to whisper a story if we take the time to observe them closely. And that is what the author and collector Roger Caillois did.
Where the exhibition Dreams of Stones stands out is through the poetry and imagination that integrate it. Indeed, alongside the minerals, Roger Caillois’ words are revealed.
Letting his thoughts flow through ink, his prose excerpts describe the landscapes he traversed while observing his stones, the characters he encountered, the emotions that accompanied his discoveries, and the memories and other thoughts that were also linked to them.
“Paradoxes,” “Wounds,” “Monsters and Specters,” “Natura pictrix,” “Writings and Cross-outs,” the “secret sculptures,” “Pseudo-torso”… Here are some of the themes through which his stones express themselves. Our visit thus presents itself as a journey between the real and the imaginary, rocked by the exceptional, almost unreal creations crafted by nature.
For our part, we were captivated by the spectacle unfolding before our eyes. And we felt very privileged to be able to observe this collection, not adorned with the most precious gems in the world, but with minerals holding visual stories, of which some have been little, if ever, displayed to the public.
Between the discovery of the landscape marbles of Tuscany (paésines), the starry patterns of the septarians, bits of nature encapsulated in dendrites, and other triangular, circular, or more abstract and sculptural forms contained within onyx, jaspers, or agates… The wonder only grows throughout the visit, as these forms and creations seem to belong to another world and remind us how magical nature truly is.
From collector to dreamer, an initiatory journey at the origin of the exhibition Dreams of Stones
This collection, composed between 1952 and 1978, is part of Roger Caillois’ desire to question the link between nature and art, but also the origins of these treasures and the relationship they have with humanity. An exercise that nourished his thoughts and gradually invited him to move away from a mere encyclopedic approach to develop a poetic writing, becoming even dreamlike as he made his discoveries.
These stones and minerals, which have been tools to understand eras and civilizations, regions of the world, thoughts, and cultures, have also been levers for elevating thought. Notably, in terms of how Roger Caillois read these pieces. From his first writings, crafted with a collector’s eye, it is towards a more spiritual and mystical thought that his later words have drifted.
From simple aesthetic limestone pieces to elements with lithotherapeutic powers, it is truly fascinating to observe the evolution of this sociologist’s, writer’s, and natural science enthusiast’s thought process in relation to these stones he called his “crossroad objects” or “fairy objects.”
Thus, it was with a dreamy spirit and the impression of having traveled that we left our visit. Both interesting for the discovery of this author and the various information provided about the minerals, the exhibition will enchant both young and old through its displayed pieces and the dialogue created.
This visit will leave you on a little cloud and invite you to reconnect with your imagination, viewing the world around you with eyes full of innocence.
The exhibition Dreams of Stones: Poetry and Minerals by Roger Caillois is presented at the School of Jewelry Arts until March 29, 2026. Entry is free, but it is advisable to reserve in advance as there are limited spots available. Additionally, guided tours are organized.
