Architecture: An Essay on Art

The works of Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799) belong to the great upheavals in the field of ideology at the end of the 18th century. Shaped by the Sensationalist philosophy through the writings of Locke and Condillac, and matured by Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire,

Boullée believed that art possessed didactic virtues.

Boullée approaches two works as a "revolutionary architect": he criticizes the architecture of his time, proposes audacious and progressive solutions, but at the same time wishes to embody the social progress demanded by the Revolution.

No works have survived besides L'Hôtel Alexandre (Paris) and L'Hôtel d'Evreux, which is now used as Le Palais de l'Elysée.

“Is architecture merely an invented, imaginary art from start to finish, or is it based on the nature of fundamental policies?”

“If I was able to arrange my buildings as I expected, with beautiful order up to perfect symmetries, but without falling into an error like monotony, I was able to find this in this beautiful environment where I am.”