In writing about a visit to Hauteville House, Gustave Simon, in 1904, described Victor Hugo’s drawings. He had, he said, ‘invented his own flower, very much his own, a strange flower, a synthesis of different flowers, a mix of dahlia, pansy, chrysanthemum, daisy and clematis: Victor Hugo’s flower, which appears in his landscapes, in his decorative motifs, or the works of his imagination.’