Les Deux Magots
The café that shared the twentieth century’s most famous literary rivalry with Café de Flore next door — home to Surrealists, existentialists and its own literary prize since 1933.
At a glance
Les Deux Magots sits at 6 Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés, in the 6th arrondissement, facing the oldest church in Paris. It shares the square, and a long friendly rivalry, with the neighbouring Café de Flore. Its name — from the two carved Chinese figures known as magots — is the one thing that has never changed.
History
The business began in 1812 as a novelty shop selling silk and figurines from the Far East, at 23 Rue de Buci. It moved to the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1873 to expand, and in 1885 the shop gave way to a café that kept the old name and its two wooden magots.
By the twentieth century it had become the main rendezvous of the city’s literary and artistic elite. Surrealists gathered here first; later came Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Ernest Hemingway, Albert Camus, Pablo Picasso and James Joyce, and the American writers James Baldwin, Chester Himes and Richard Wright. Since 1933 the café has awarded its own literary prize, the Prix des Deux Magots — the first going to Raymond Queneau for Le Chiendent.
What you see
The two gilded figures of Chinese merchants still look down from a central pillar, the emblem the café takes its name from. The terrace on the Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés faces the Romanesque abbey church across the square.
Inside, the room keeps the mirrors, banquettes and Art Deco fittings of the interwar café that Sartre’s generation knew.
Cultural significance
Together with Café de Flore, Les Deux Magots made Saint-Germain-des-Prés the intellectual capital of mid-century Paris. Its guest list reads like a syllabus of modern literature, and the Prix des Deux Magots keeps it tied to living French writing rather than to memory alone.
Key facts
- Origins: 1812 novelty shop on Rue de Buci; café since 1885
- Name: from two carved figures of Chinese merchants (magots)
- Location: 6 Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 6th arrondissement
- Patrons: the Surrealists, Sartre and de Beauvoir, Hemingway, Camus, Picasso
- Prix des Deux Magots: literary prize awarded every year since 1933
Practical information & getting there
The café faces the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church and Métro station (line 4). It is open daily; the terrace is the classic seat for watching the square, the interior the quieter one for reading.
Sources & resources
- Les Deux Magots — Our History: lesdeuxmagots.fr/en/our-history
- History Hit — “Café Les Deux Magots: History and Facts”
- Sortiraparis — “Les Deux Magots, artistic life in Saint-Germain”
- European Historic Cafés Association — Les Deux Magots
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