Villa Noailles

The Villa Noailles is an early modernist house, built by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens for art patrons Arthur Anne Marie Charles Vicomte de Noailles and his wife, Marie Laure Bischoffsheim, between 1923 and 1925. It is located in the hills above Hyères, in the Var, southeastern France.

History

Charles Noailles was born in 1891, and his wife Marie Laure, was born in 1902. They were married in 1923. Before their marriage, they became friends of artist-filmaker Jean Cocteau, and Noailles commissioned a portrait of his wife by Pablo Picasso in 1923.

In 1923, they signed a contract with a architect Robert Mallet-Stevens to built a summer villa in the hills above the city of Hyeres. Construction was underway for three years, and eventually also included a triangular cubist garden designed by Gabriel Guevrekian.

Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the Noailles were important patrons of modern art, particularly surrealism; they supported film projects by Man Ray Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel; and commissioned paintings, photographs and sculptures by Balthus, Giacometti, Constantin Brancusi, Miro, and Dora Maar.

In 1940 the villa was occupied by the Italian Army and turned into a hospital. From 1947 until 1970, the villa was the summer residence of Marie Laure. She died in 1970, and the house was purchased by the city of Hyères in 1973. Charles de Noailles died in 1981.

The villa is now used as an arts center and for special exhibits.

ee also

* "Les Mystères du Château du Dé"

External links

* [http://www.villanoailles-hyeres.com/ VillaNoailles] - the site of Villa Noailles
* [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/documentation/memoire/MOSAIQUES/noailles-001.htm Pictures of the Villa]