Editing André Malraux (section)

===After the war===
[[File:JFK, Marie-Madeleine Lioux, André Malraux, Jackie, L.B. Johnson, unveiling Mona Lisa at National Gallery of Art.png|thumb|U.S. President [[John F. Kennedy]], Marie-Madeleine Lioux, André Malraux, U.S. First Lady [[Jacqueline Kennedy]], and U.S. Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] at an unveiling of the ''[[Mona Lisa]]'' at the [[National Gallery of Art]], Washington, D.C. Mrs. Kennedy described Malraux as "the most fascinating man I've ever talked to".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/us/12jackie.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp | work=The New York Times | first=Janny | last=Scott | title=In Oral History, Jacqueline Kennedy Speaks Candidly After the Assassination | date=11 September 2011}}</ref>]]

Shortly after the war, General [[Charles de Gaulle]] appointed Malraux as his Minister for Information (1945–1946). Soon after, he completed his first book on art, ''The Psychology of Art'', published in three volumes (1947–1949). The work was subsequently revised and republished in one volume as ''The Voices of Silence'' (''Les Voix du Silence''), the first part of which has been published separately as ''The Museum without Walls''. Other important works on the theory of art were to follow. These included the three-volume ''Metamorphosis of the Gods'' and ''Precarious Man and Literature'', the latter published posthumously in 1977. In 1948, Malraux married a second time, to [[Madeleine Malraux|Marie-Madeleine Lioux]], a concert pianist and the widow of his half-brother, Roland Malraux. They separated in 1966. Subsequently, Malraux lived with [[Louise de Vilmorin]] in the Vilmorin family château at Verrières-le-Buisson, Essonne, a suburb southwest of Paris. Vilmorin was best known as a writer of delicate but mordant tales, often set in aristocratic or artistic milieu. Her most famous novel was ''Madame de...'', published in 1951, which was adapted into the celebrated film ''[[The Earrings of Madame de...]]'' (1953), directed by Max Ophüls and starring Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux and Vittorio de Sica. Vilmorin's other works included ''Juliette'', ''La lettre dans un taxi'', ''Les belles amours'', ''Saintes-Unefois'', and ''Intimités''. Her letters to Jean Cocteau were published after the death of both correspondents. After Louise's death, Malraux spent his final years with her relative, Sophie de Vilmorin.

In 1957, Malraux published the first volume of his trilogy on art entitled ''The Metamorphosis of the Gods''. The second two volumes (not yet translated into English) were published shortly before he died in 1976. They are entitled ''L'Irréel'' and ''L'Intemporel'' and discuss artistic developments from the Renaissance to modern times. Malraux also initiated the series ''[[Arts of Mankind]]'', an ambitious survey of world art that generated more than thirty large, illustrated volumes.

When de Gaulle returned to the French presidency in 1958, Malraux became France's first [[Minister of Culture (France)|Minister of Cultural Affairs]], a post he held from 1958 to 1969. On 7 February 1962, Malraux was the target of an assassination attempt by the ''[[Organisation armée secrète]]'' (OAS), which set off a bomb to his apartment building that failed to kill its intended target, but did leave a four-year-old girl who was living in the adjoining apartment blinded by the shrapnel.<ref>Shepard, Todd ''The Invention of Decolonization: The Algerian War and the Remaking of France'' Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008 page 183.</ref> Ironically, Malraux was a lukewarm supporter of de Gaulle's decision to grant [[Évian Accords|independence to Algeria]], but the OAS was not aware of this, and had decided to assassinate Malraux as a high-profile minister.

On 23 May 1961, André Malraux's two sons, Gauthier and Vincent, were killed in a car accident.

Among many initiatives, Malraux launched an innovative (and subsequently widely imitated) program to clean the blackened façades of notable French buildings, revealing the natural stone underneath.<ref>Chilvers, Ian.  Entry for AM in ''The Oxford Dictionary of Art'' (Oxford, 2004). Accessed on 6/28/11 at: http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Andre_Malraux.aspx#4</ref> He also created a number of ''maisons de la culture'' in provincial cities and worked to preserve France's national heritage by promoting [[industrial archaeology]].<ref name="ReferenceB">Hérubel, Jean-Pierre "André Malraux and the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs: A Bibliographic Essay" pages 556-575 from ''Libraries & Culture'', Vol. 35, No. 4 Fall 2000 page 557</ref> An intellectual who took the arts very seriously, Malraux saw his mission as Culture Minister to preserve France's heritage and to improve the cultural levels of the masses.<ref>Hérubel, Jean-Pierre "André Malraux and the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs: A Bibliographic Essay" pages 556-575 from ''Libraries & Culture'', Vol. 35, No. 4 Fall 2000 pages 556-557</ref> Malraux's efforts to promote French culture mostly concerned renewing old or building new libraries, art galleries, museums, theatres, opera houses, and ''maisons de la culture'' (centres built in provincial cities that were a mixture of a library, art gallery and theatre).<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In 1964 he created the [[Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel]] to record all goods based on archival sources created by human kind throughout France.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.culture.gouv.fr/en/Documentation-space/General-inventory-of-cultural-heritage|title=General inventory of cultural heritage|website=www.culture.gouv.fr}}</ref> Film, television and music took less of Malraux's time, and the changing demographics caused by immigration from the Third World stymied his efforts to promote French high culture, as many immigrants from Muslim and African nations did not find French high culture that compelling.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> A passionate bibliophile, Malraux built up a huge collection of books both as a cultural minister for the nation and as a man for himself.<ref>Hérubel, Jean-Pierre "André Malraux and the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs: A Bibliographic Essay" pages 556-575 from ''Libraries & Culture'', Vol. 35, No. 4 Fall 2000 page 558</ref>

Malraux was an outspoken supporter of the Bangladesh liberation movement during the 1971 [[Liberation War of Bangladesh]] and despite his age seriously considered joining the struggle. When [[Indira Gandhi]] came to Paris in November 1971, there was extensive discussion between them about the situation in Bangladesh.
During this post-war period, Malraux published a series of semi-autobiographical works, the first entitled ''Antimémoires'' (1967). A later volume in the series, ''Lazarus'', is a reflection on death occasioned by his experiences during a serious illness. ''La Tête d'obsidienne'' (1974) (translated as ''Picasso's Mask'') concerns Picasso, and visual art more generally. In his last book, published posthumously in 1977, ''L'Homme précaire et la littérature'', Malraux propounded the theory that there was a ''bibliothèque imaginaire'' where writers created works that influenced subsequent writers much as painters learned their craft by studying the old masters; once they have understood the work of the old masters, writers would sally forth with the knowledge gained to create new works that added to the growing and never-ending ''bibliothèque imaginaire''.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> (See also [[musée imaginaire]]). An elitist who appreciated what he saw as the high culture of all the nations of the world, Malraux was especially interested in art history and archaeology, and saw his duty as a writer to share what he knew with ordinary people.<ref name="ReferenceB"/> An aesthete, Malraux believed that art was spiritually enriching and necessary for humanity.<ref>Hérubel, Jean-Pierre "André Malraux and the French Ministry of Cultural Affairs: A Bibliographic Essay" pages 556-575 from ''Libraries & Culture'', Vol. 35, No. 4 Fall 2000 pages 557-558</ref>

Malraux was nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] on 32 occasions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=5850 |archive-url =https://archive.today/20141126134058/http://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=5850 |archive-date =26 November 2014 |title=André Malraux - Nominations |date=April 2020 |publisher=nobelprize.org}}</ref> He was an annual contender for the prize in the 1950s and 1960s, but was never awarded. In 1969 he was the main candidate considered for the prize along with [[Samuel Beckett]]. His candidacy was supported by some members of the Nobel committee, but was rejected for political reasons by another member, and the [[Swedish Academy]] ultimately decided that Beckett should be awarded.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.svenskaakademien.se/kaj-schueler-om-1969-ars-nobelpris |title=Kaj Schueler om 1969 års Nobelpris |publisher=Svenska Akademien |lang=Swedish }}</ref>