Events from the year 1886 in France.
Incumbents President: Jules Grévy President of the Council of Ministers: until 7 January: Henri Brisson 7 January-16 December: Charles de Freycinet starting 16 December: René Goblet
Events 15 May – Portugal and France agree to regulate the borders of their colonies in Guinea. 30 November – Folies Bergère in Paris stages its first revue. Georges Seurat finishes painting A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
Literature Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam - L'Ève future Pierre Loti - Pêcheur d'Islande Jules Mary - Roger la Honte Octave Mirbeau - Le Calvaire Jules Verne Un Billet de loterie Robur-le-Conquérant Émile Zola - L'Œuvre
Births
January to June 28 January – Georges Painvin, cryptanalyst (died 1980) 5 March – Léon Mathot, actor and film director (died 1968) 7 March – Jacques Majorelle, painter (died 1962) 7 March – René Thomas, motor racing driver (died 1975) 28 March – Gustave Mesny, army general (died 1945) 29 March – Paul Amiot, actor (died 1979) 15 April – Amédée Ozenfant, cubist painter (died 1966) 19 April – Hermine David, painter (died 1970) 25 April – Marie Brémont, supercentenarian, the oldest recognized person in the world from November 2000 until her death (died 2001) 29 April – Count Renaud de la Frégeolière, author and first president of the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (died 1981) 3 May – Marcel Dupré, organist, pianist and composer (died 1971) 24 May – Paul Paray, conductor, organist and composer (died 1979)
July to December 16 July – Pierre Benoit, novelist (died 1962) 3 August – Henri Debain, actor (died 1983) 8 September – Marguerite Jeanne Carpentier, painter and sculptor (died 1965) 15 September – Paul Lévy, mathematician (died 1971) 16 September – Jean Arp, sculptor, painter, poet and abstract artist (died 1966) 30 September – Gaston Ramon, veterinarian and biologist (died 1963) 3 October – Alain-Fournier, author and soldier (died 1914) 4 October – Laurent Eynac, politician and Minister (died 1970) 6 November – André Marty, leading figure in the French Communist Party (died 1956) 15 November – René Guénon, orientalist and philosopher (died 1951) 30 December – Henri Chapron, automobile coachbuilder (died 1978)
Full date unknown Marie-Gabriel Tissot, Abbot of Quarr (died 1983)
Deaths 23 January – Jean Baptiste Prosper Bressant, actor (born 1815) 27 April – Eugène Isabey, painter, draftsman, and printmaker (born 1803) 17 March – Pierre-Jules Hetzel, editor and publisher (born 1814) 23 May – Pierre Édouard Frère, painter (born 1819) 12 July – Ferdinand Berthier, deaf educator, intellectual and political organiser (born 1803) 14 August – Edmond Laguerre, mathematician (born 1834) 8 September – Maurice Jean Auguste Girard, entomologist (born 1822) 16 September – Louis, duc de Decazes, statesman (born 1819) 26 September – Hippolyte Castille, writer (born 1820) 14 November – Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois, geologist and mineralogist (born 1820)
References