Hortense Belhôte

Hortense Belhôte is an actress, author and art historian. She is the creator of Merci de ne pas Toucher, an arte web series directed by Cécilia de Arce, which deciphers the masterpieces of European classical art.

As an actress, she has acted in theatre and film and taught drama at Paris conservatoires. She has also worked on musical shows with conductor Hacène Larbi (Les Nuits), choreographer Mark Tompkins (Show Time! a musical), performer Mathieu Grenier (#NALF l’opéra) and actress Sarah Cohen-Hadria (Kissing Nodules). In contemporary dance, she has been a performer since 2017 on Footballeuses by Mickaël Phelippeau, whose company now hosts some of his spectacular lectures.

She holds a Master’s 2 in art history, and has taught for many years in design schools, art markets and universities. At the crossroads of her practices, she has created a bespoke form for herself: the spectacular lecture, whose catalogue has unfolded over the years. Since 2019, Une histoire du football féminin has been touring theatres and educational establishments; in 2021, Histoires de Graffeuses was commissioned by the Centre Dramatique National de Besançon; in 2022, Performeureuses (a history of performance in contemporary dance) was created for the Théâtre de Vanves, followed by Et la marmotte? (a historical and sociological approach to the mountains) commissioned by the Centre chorégraphique national de Grenoble, and 1664 (a thorough debunking of Louis XIV’s absolutism) at the Centre National de la Danse. In 2023, Portraits de Famille – les oublié.es de la révolution française, produced by L’Espace 1789 in Saint-Ouen and performed at the Théâtre de l’Atelier in Paris, will form part of this vast re-reading of our heritage across the boundaries of the arts and conventional wisdom.

In 2024, Hortense Belhôte is artist in residence at the Musée d’Orsay. In January she will create Escape Game XIX, a spectacular tour of the collections, and in spring 2024 she will present the stage version in the museum’s auditorium.