In spring 1954, André Malraux posed for a photographer from the magazine Paris Match with the open double pages of an art book. This resulted in an icon of modern cultural history that continues to resonate through many books and catalogs to this day. In the context of a room journey through the fashionable salon, art historian Walter Grasskamp analyzes the self-staging strategies of this controversial author and politician, before turning to the book lying on the floor, Le Musée imaginaire de la sculpture mondiale - an imaginary museum of world art. The book then focuses on the models, development history, and impact of the fascinating idea of an imaginary museum, which can also present a forgotten model of Malraux: the stunning Encyclopédie photographique de l'art, published by photographer André Vigneau between 1935 and 1949.