Showcasing nearly 400 objects and documents, this exhibition highlights how exoticism can fuel dreams and  foster projections of early ambitions, along with a relationship with nature and otherness.

It raises questions about the way children are confronted with the outside world and other peoples, especially through magazines, soap operas, comics, the cinema and, of course, the games and toys of their times.

Through a thematic approach in which science and exaltation, heroism and adventure intermingle, visitors will find the great figures who have shaped the collective imagination, such as Rousseau and Diderot, inspirational ancestors Jules Verne and Henri de la Vaulx, pilots of various round-the-world trips, and the famous European heroes Paul and Virginie, Robinson Crusoe, Babar, Bécassine and Heidi. After presenting an amusing review of burlesque adventures and explorations through images of Banania, Barbie, Tintin, Noddy and Bécassine, the exhibition offers the visitor the opportunity to discover or rediscover some nuggets of contemporary publishing.

This exhibition has been presented to the musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac from May 23rd to October 7th.