1904 in France
Events from the year 1904 in France.
Incumbents
Events
- 23 February - First launch of a French diesel-powered submarine, Aigrette.
- 8 April - Entente cordiale, a series of agreements signed between the United Kingdom and France.
- Global cosmetics companies are founded in Paris: Coty, by François Coty, and Garnier, by Alfred Amour Garnier.
- Summer - Henri Matisse paints Luxe, Calme et Volupté at Saint-Tropez; it will be considered foundational in his own oeuvre and the starting point of Fauvism.
Literature
Music
- Claude Debussy
- * Deux danses
- * Masques
- * L'isle joyeuse
- Gabriel Fauré - Impromptu No. 6
- Jules Massenet - Cigale
- Camille Saint-Saëns - Caprice andalou
- Maurice Ravel
- * String Quartet
- * Shéhérazade
- Erik Satie
- * La Diva de l'Empire
- * Le Piccadilly
Sport
- 2 July - The second Tour de France begins.
- 24 July - Tour de France ends, won by Henri Cornet.
Births
January to March
- 7 January - Pierre Allain, climber
- 13 January - Jean de Beaumont, sport shooter
- 14 January - Henri-Georges Adam, engraver and sculptor
- 4 February - Georges Sadoul, journalist and cinema writer
- 11 February - Lucile Randon, supercentenarian
- 15 February - Louis Robert, historian and author
- 24 February - Gaston Marie Jacquier, Roman Catholic prelate
- 27 February - André Leducq, cyclist, twice Tour de France winner
- 1 March - Paul Dubreil, mathematician
- 13 March - René Dumont, agronomist, sociologist and environmental politician
April to June
- 12 April - Arsène Alancourt, cyclist
- 13 April - Yves Congar, priest and theologian
- 21 April
- *Jean Hélion, painter and author
- *Gabriel Loire, stained glass artist
- 25 April - René Cogny, General
- 17 May
- * Marie-Anne Desmarest, novelist
- * Jean Gabin, actor
- 18 May - François Marty, Roman Catholic Cardinal
- 19 May - Daniel Guérin, anarchist and author
- 25 May - Marcel Thil, world champion boxer
- 5 June – Edith Clark, aviator and parachutist
- 8 June - Jean-Jérôme Adam, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Libreville
- 11 June - Gaston Charlot, chemist
- 29 June - Jean Berveiller, composer and organist
July to September
- 2 July - René Lacoste, tennis player
- 8 July - Henri Cartan, mathematician.
- 24 July - Leo Arnaud, composer of film scores
- 4 September - Christian-Jaque, filmmaker
- 7 September - Henri Pinault, Roman Catholic Bishop of Chengdu
- 18 September - Jean Dasté, actor and theatre director
October to December
- 8 October - Yves Giraud-Cabantous, motor racing driver
- 13 October - Antoine Gilles Menier, businessman and municipal politician
- 14 October - Christian Pineau, French Resistance leader and politician
- 12 November
- *Henri-Irénée Marrou, historian
- *Jacques Tourneur, film director
- 22 November - Louis Néel, physicist, the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970
- 6 December - Ève Curie, author and writer, daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie
- 12 December - Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor
- 21 December - Jean René Bazaine, painter, stained glass window designer and writer
- 31 December - Charles Fauvel, aircraft designer
Full date unknown
Deaths
- 10 January - Jean-Léon Gérôme, painter and sculptor
- 26 January - Émile Deschanel, author and politician
- 3 February - Marie Firmin Bocourt, zoologist and artist
- 19 May - Auguste Molinier, historian
- 27 June - Anatole Jean-Baptiste Antoine de Barthélemy, archaeologist and numismatist
- 25 August - Henri Fantin-Latour, painter and lithographer
- 23 September - Émile Gallé, artist
- 4 October - Frédéric Bartholdi, sculptor, designer of the Statue of Liberty
Full date unknown
- Paul Adolphe Marie Prosper Granier de Cassagnac, journalist and politician