Visitor's itinerary

The profound changes experienced by French society at the beginning of the 20th century affected the link between army and society frequently idealised during the initial decades of the Third Republic.
The First World War put the seal on this evolution: during the early months of the conflict the objects and images decorating handkerchiefs underwent considerable change.
The handkerchief, which became a scarf purely and simply, was put to new uses and was covered in motifs in part inspired by military tradition, but with less of a narrative effect, and with the events of the war scarcely depicted at all.
The stylised treatment of the motifs and the quest for elegance bear witness to the new relationship developing between army and society.