1904 in France

Events from the year 1904 in France.

Incumbents

 * President: Émile Loubet
 * President of the Council of Ministers: Emile Combes

Events

 * 23 February - First launch of a French diesel-powered submarine, Aigrette.
 * 8 April - Entente cordiale, a series of agreements signed between the United Kingdom and France.
 * Global cosmetics companies are founded in Paris: Coty, by François Coty, and Garnier, by Alfred Amour Garnier.

Arts and literature

 * Summer - Henri Matisse paints Luxe, Calme et Volupté at Saint-Tropez; it will be considered foundational in his own oeuvre and the starting point of Fauvism.

Sport

 * 2 July - The second Tour de France begins.
 * 24 July - Tour de France ends, won by Henri Cornet.

January to March

 * 7 January - Pierre Allain, climber (died 2000)
 * 13 January - Jean de Beaumont, sport shooter (died 2002)
 * 14 January - Henri-Georges Adam, engraver and sculptor (died 1967)
 * 4 February - Georges Sadoul, journalist and cinema writer (died 1967)
 * 11 February - Lucile Randon, supercentenarian (died 2023)
 * 15 February - Louis Robert, historian and author (died 1985)
 * 24 February - Gaston Marie Jacquier, Roman Catholic prelate (died 1976)
 * 27 February - André Leducq, cyclist, twice Tour de France winner (died 1980)
 * 1 March - Paul Dubreil, mathematician (died 1994)
 * 13 March - René Dumont, agronomist, sociologist and environmental politician (died 2001)

April to June

 * 12 April - Arsène Alancourt, cyclist (died 1965)
 * 13 April - Yves Congar, priest and theologian (died 1995)
 * 21 April
 * Jean Hélion, painter and author (died 1987)
 * Gabriel Loire, stained glass artist (died 1996)
 * 25 April - René Cogny, General (died 1968)
 * 17 May - Jean Gabin, actor (died 1976)
 * 18 May - François Marty, Roman Catholic Cardinal (died 1994)
 * 19 May - Daniel Guérin, anarchist and author (died 1988)
 * 25 May - Marcel Thil, world champion boxer (died 1968)
 * 8 June - Jean-Jérôme Adam, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Libreville (died 1981)
 * 11 June - Gaston Charlot, chemist (died 1994)
 * 29 June - Jean Berveiller, composer and organist (died 1976)

July to September

 * 2 July - René Lacoste, tennis player (died 1996)
 * 8 July - Henri Cartan, mathematician. (died 2008)
 * 24 July - Leo Arnaud, composer of film scores (died 1991)
 * 4 September - Christian-Jaque, filmmaker (died 1994)
 * 7 September - Henri Pinault, Roman Catholic Bishop of Chengdu (died 1987)
 * 18 September - Jean Dasté, actor and theatre director (died 1994)

October to December

 * 8 October - Yves Giraud-Cabantous, motor racing driver (died 1973)
 * 13 October - Antoine Gilles Menier, businessman and municipal politician (died 1967)
 * 14 October - Christian Pineau, French Resistance leader and politician (died 1995)
 * 12 November
 * Henri-Irénée Marrou, historian (died 1977)
 * Jacques Tourneur, film director (died 1977)
 * 22 November - Louis Néel, physicist, the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970 (died 2000)
 * 6 December - Ève Curie, author and writer, daughter of Marie and Pierre Curie (died 2007)
 * 12 December - Nicolas de Gunzburg, magazine editor (died 1981)
 * 21 December - Jean René Bazaine, painter, stained glass window designer and writer (died 2001)
 * 31 December - Charles Fauvel, aircraft designer (died 1979)

Full date unknown

 * Raymond Molinier, Trotskyist (died 1994)

Deaths

 * 10 January - Jean-Léon Gérôme, painter and sculptor (born 1824)
 * 26 January - Émile Deschanel, author and politician (born 1819)
 * 3 February - Marie Firmin Bocourt, zoologist and artist (born 1819)
 * 19 May - Auguste Molinier, historian (born 1851)
 * 27 June - Anatole Jean-Baptiste Antoine de Barthélemy, archaeologist and numismatist (born 1821)
 * 25 August - Henri Fantin-Latour, painter and lithographer (born 1836)
 * 23 September - Émile Gallé, artist (born 1846)
 * 4 October - Frédéric Bartholdi, sculptor, designer of the Statue of Liberty (born 1834)

Full date unknown

 * Paul Adolphe Marie Prosper Granier de Cassagnac, journalist and politician (born 1843)