Daniel Cordier (1920-2020), the spy who loved art
From March 19th to July 13th 2025, the Liberation of Paris Museum - General Leclerc Museum - Jean Moulin Museum dedicates its new exhibition to Daniel Cordier, an unclassifiable, multi-faceted personality. From the young patriotic far-right activist who became one of the faces of republican values, to the impulsive fighter who later became the diligent biographer of Jean Moulin's commitment, to the art dealer and gallery owner who became a “great witness” to the war, Daniel Cordier went through a hundred years of history with a profound desire for freedom. Five years after his death, and with the publication of a new volume of his posthumous memoirs at the beginning of 2025, this exhibition breathes new life and substance into his singular journey through a century of passions and commitments.
From Tuesday to Sunday
From 10 a.m to 6 p.m
From wednesday 19 march 2025
to sunday 13 july 2025
Full rate : 11 euros
Reduced rate : 9 euros
The exhibition
The exhibition reveals secret archives such as spy notebooks, false papers and a camouflage scarf, as well as personal and military objects, handwritten pages from a book, curiosities and even the legend (cover identity) given to Daniel Cordier by the intelligence services. It also shows works that the gallery owner has passionately collected, from Marcel Duchamp, Mimi Parent, Jean Dubuffet, Henri Michaux, Michel Nedjar to Brassaï.
Based on the exhibition presented at the Haute-Garonne departmental museum of the Resistance and Deportation in 2023, the exhibition at the Liberation of Paris Museum - General Leclerc Museum - Jean Moulin Museum features numerous loans from the collections of the Centre Pompidou, the Order of the Liberation Museum, the Resistance and Deportation History Center, the Historical Defense Service and the National Archives.
I've chosen the pseudonym 'Caracalla' for your character. I hope you'll like it.
Today, to retrace an adventure that was, through its coincidences, its dramatic turns and its tragedies, essentially romantic, this imaginary pseudonym has my preference over all those that were attributed to me in the Resistance.
The exhibition path
In each section of the exhibition, an audiovisual device presents graphic animations and testimonials by Daniel Cordier, bringing to life the documents and objects on display.
A far-right teenager
As a young militant brought up in a far-right environment, Daniel Cordier became an activist, as the royalist, nationalist, anti-democratic and anti-Semitic doctrine seemed to answer his questions. When, on June 17 1940, he heard Maréchal Pétain's order to give up the fight, he was shocked, then outraged, and decided to keep fighting. Documents (a letter to his mother, his report card from boarding school, far right tracts) reveal a childhood torn between his loyalty to his father and his affection for his stepfather, and shed light on his far-right activism.
The Free France soldier
After leaving France, Daniel Cordier joins Général de Gaulle's army. Having never seen combat, he learned to become a soldier and then a secret service agent. The exhibition reveals documents relating to Daniel Cordier's training as a soldier and then as a spy: his evaluations by his instructors and class notes, as well as his political stances, tell the story of how far he had come in just a few months.
The clandestine in occupied France
Parachuted into occupied France, Daniel Cordier must face the difficulties of clandestine life. Alongside Jean Moulin, whose secretary he became, he discovered the daily realities of his own occupied country and the activity of the Resistance. The visitor will discover the complete elaboration of his false identity, the telegram recording the constitution of the first Council of the Resistance as well as Cordier's plans to try to escape Jean Moulin after his arrest.
© The Liberation of Paris Museum - General Leclerc Museum - Jean Moulin Museum. | 
© Museum of the Order of the Liberation, Paris. |
The art amateur
Daniel Cordier discovered art through his conversations with Jean Moulin and his reading of the book on contemporary art given by Jean Moulin in May 1943. After the war, he began collecting and tried his hand at painting, before becoming a renowned gallery owner and a generous and committed patron of the arts. The original copy of the book donated by Jean Moulin introduces the section of the exhibition dedicated to Daniel Cordier's galleries and his collection, close to the Surrealists such as Marcel Duchamp and André Breton, and to Outsider Art artists such as Jean Dubuffet.
Thanks to loans from the National Museum of Modern Art - Centre Pompidou, emblematic works from his collection will be presented, as well as natural curiosities and non-western objects of which he appreciated the forms.
The historian and the memorialist
Constantly reminded of his wartime past, it was in the face of accusations against Jean Moulin that Daniel Cordier decided to become a historian. Author of a major biography of his former “boss” ("patron" in french), he decided at the end of his life to write his own memoirs. This section provides an opportunity to discover Daniel Cordier's lifelong links with the veterans of Free France, as evidenced by his certificate as a Companion of the Order of the Liberation, and his loyalty to Jean Moulin, whose ashes were transfered to the Pantheon in December 1964.
General Curator
Sylvie Zaidman, historian and director of the Liberation of Paris Museum - General Leclerc Museum - Jean Moulin Museum
Antoine Grande, historian and former director of the Haute-Garonne departmental museum of the Resistance and Deportation
Scientific Advisory Board
Alfred Pacquement, art historian and Honorary Director of the National Museum of Modern Art – Pompidou Center
Patron
This exhibition is supported by the Carac Foundation.
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