Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde died on November 20, 1900 while in exile at the Hôtel d’Alsace in Paris. His last words are said to have been: “My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go.” The writer, who died penniless is also reported to have ordered a bottle of the hotel’s most expensive champagne saying: “”Ah, well, then I suppose I shall have to die beyond my means.”
After his death, the Hôtel d’Alsace (now called L’Hôtel) removed the wallpaper and had the room re-furnished in the style of one of Wilde’s London flats.