La chambre introuvable is a long, steep staircase with a secretive artwork at the top of the stairs; a wooden and partially gilded frame containing a smooth black oval box and an accompanying quote taken from Stendhal’s ‘le rouge et le noir’:

‘Vous ici trouvez une petite boîte ce carton noir et lisse. Elle renferme un portrait. Je vous supplie de ne pas regarder ce portrait, c’est mon secrèt!’

This museum room not only refers to the chamber that never met and was dissolved on September 16, 1816, but also to the elusive artist, all the unanswerable questions and all the best kept secrets.

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