Catalogue of the exhibition Cap sur l'Amérique - La dernière uopie de Napoléon, Rueil Malmaison, Musée national des châteaux de Malmaison et Bois-Préau, from 21 April to 21 July 2015.
In the evening of Waterloo, and after abdicating on June 21, 1815, Napoleon was forced to return to exile. He then planned to embark on the conquest of the New World. Between his stay in Malmaison from June 25 to 29 and the last night he spent on the island of Aix on July 14, he pursued a dream of America as a utopia. What faithful companions will accompany him, what personal belongings and memories will he bring with him in his luggage? The services of the Emperor's House were busy preparing for this trip, but the Allies and the government of Louis XVIII finally opposed this project and Napoleon embarked on St Helena.
Through archival documents, pictorial representations and objects, this book reconstructs this very special moment in Napoleon's life and retraces a history of relations between France and the United States.
