1888 in France
Events from the year 1888 in France.
Incumbents
- President: Marie François Sadi Carnot
- President of the Council of Ministers: Pierre Tirard, Charles Floquet
Events
- 21 February – Vincent van Gogh moves to Arles where he will be very productive as a painter.
- 16 March – France annexes the Polynesian kingdom of Raiatea and Taha'a.
- 18 March – France annexes the Polynesian kingdom of Bora Bora.
- 8 April – The town of Mende, Lozère, becomes the first French administrative centre to have electric light installed.
- July–August – Strike of laborers in Paris.
- 8 July – Inauguration of Fontinettes boat lift on the Canal de Neufossé.
- 12 July – Georges Ernest Boulanger and his supporters win seats in the Chamber of Deputies.
- 2 October – Census of foreign residents.
- 14 October – Louis Le Prince films the first motion picture, Roundhay Garden Scene, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
- 23 December – Having quarrelled with Gauguin, van Gogh cuts off the lower part of his own left ear, taking it to a brothel, and is removed to the hospital in Arles.
- Jeweller and glass designer René Lalique establishes the Lalique luxury goods business in Paris.
Literature
- Maurice Barrès - Le Culte du moi
- Guy de Maupassant - Pierre et Jean
- Octave Mirbeau - Abbé Jules
- Jules Verne - Deux ans de vacances
- Émile Zola - Le Rêve
Music
- Claude Debussy - Ariettes oubliées
- Gabriel Fauré
- * Pavane
- * 2 Mélodies, Op. 46
- * Caligula
- Emmanuel Chabrier - Joyeuse marche
- Erik Satie - ''Gymnopédies''
Births
January to March
- 8 January – Pierre Wertheimer, businessman and racehorse owner
- 9 January – Alfred Plé, rower and Olympic medallist
- 20 January – Georges Marrane, politician
- 4 February – Georges Girard, bacteriologist
- 20 February – Georges Bernanos, author
- 1 February – Henri Pequet, pilot, flier of first official airmail flight in 1911
- 28 February – Eugène Bigot, composer and conductor
- 7 March – Claude Roger-Marx, writer
- 17 March – Henri Gance, weightlifter and Olympic gold medallist
- 22 March – René Massigli, diplomat
- 28 March – Léon Noël, diplomat, politician and historian
April to June
- 1 April – Lucien Callamand, actor
- 2 April – Roger Ducret, fencer and Olympic gold medallist
- 14 May – Lucien Berland, entomologist and arachnologist
- 15 May – Jean Wahl, philosopher
- 27 May – Louis Durey, composer
- 5 June – Armand Annet, colonial governor
July to December
- 14 July – Jacques de Lacretelle, novelist
- 26 July – Marcel Jouhandeau, writer
- 31 July
- * Léonce Crenier, Roman Catholic monk and theologian
- * Jean Moreau, politician
- 8 August – César Vezzani, opera singer
- 12 September – Maurice Chevalier, actor and singer
- 16 September – Lucien Lamoureux, politician and Minister
- 24 September – Georges Jean Marie Darrieus, aeronautical engineer
- 30 September – Louis Lecoin, militant pacifist
- 6 October – Roland Garros, aviator and World War I fighter pilot
- 28 October – Stéphane Boudin, interior designer
- 9 November – Jean Monnet, architect of European Unity
- 23 November – Louis Antoine, mathematician
- 3 December – François Dupré, hotelier, art collector and horse breeder
- 16 December – Alphonse Juin, Marshal of France
- 26 December – Marius Canard, orientalist
Full date unknown
- Georges Bénézé, philosopher
- Camille Le Mercier d'Erm, poet, historian and Breton nationalist
Deaths
- 18 January – Auguste Nicolas, Roman Catholic apologetical writer
- 23 January – Eugène Marin Labiche, dramatist
- 13 February – Jean-Baptiste Lamy, first Archbishop of Santa Fe
- 20 February – François Perrier, general and geodesist
- 22 February – Jean-Delphin Alard, violinist
- 15 March – Léonard Morel-Ladeuil, goldsmith and sculptor
- 16 March – Hippolyte Carnot, statesman
- 29 March – Charles-Valentin Alkan, composer and pianist
- 1 April – Jules Émile Planchon, botanist
- 11 April – Louis-Frédéric Brugère, professor of apologetics and church history
- 14 July – Antoine Étex, sculptor, painter and architect
- 9 August – Charles Cros, poet and inventor
- 16 November – Arsène Darmesteter, philologist
Full date unknown
- Pierre Bossan, architect
- Émile Sagot, illustrator and lithographer