Furthermore,
Only surrealist house england revisited:
If. Moreover, in a television game, you were asked about the architectural works of Salvador Dalí, there is a good chance that you mentioned his house in Cadaqués, where he lived several years with Gala, and his theater-museum in Figueres, which houses the largest collection of his works in the world. For example, And you would be right. For example, because it was these two projects that allowed the artist to deeply transform the appearance of already existing buildings, respectively an old fishermen’s hut and a municipal theater.
Few people know it, but the grand master has also contributed to another construction, located far from Catalonia. Meanwhile, It is the Monkton House. Nevertheless, a typically English residence erected between 1902 and 1903 by Edwin Lutyens for the rich businessman William Dodge James and his family. For example, This cottage then served as a retirement place only surrealist house england revisited in the heart of an area of more than 2,400 hectares.
William had only one son, Edward, who put family fortune in the service of art promotion. Consequently, While studying in Oxford. For example, he published the first collection of poems by John Betjeman, and, in the 1960s, he contributed to the rescue of the Watts Towers in Los Angeles, an unusual example of American art. But this enthusiast of marginal creation was mainly distinguished by his role as a patron of surrealism. a passion to which he gave free rein in family cottage.
“I wanted to get away from this country house atmosphere that Lutyens liked so much”he said later. when the house had already become the only surrealist house ever created in the United Kingdom. The transformation was carried out by Christopher Nicholson. Hugh Casson, under the direct advice of one of the closest friends of Edward: Salvador Dalí.
Only surrealist house england revisited
The interior: a box filled with treasures
Even if Edward opposed some of Dalí’s most daring ideas – such as creating walls in the living room capable of moving inward. outwards, like the stomach of a dog – the exterior has been the subject of many transformations: the apparent bricks of the house were covered with purple stucco and the front door was painted in pink. The columns of the entrance were redesigned to look like palm trees, while the gutters imitated bamboo stems. It was decided to suspend the edges of the windows of the whimsical curtains in plaster. and each of the three chimneys took a different shape.
The only surrealist house england revisited interior was also spectacular: Edward. at the request of his artistic advisers, filled the house of works of art and surrealist objects, including two sofas designed by Dalí and representing the lips of Mae West. In one of the corridors. a dreamlike painting by Paul Delvaux was hung, accompanied by a chair designed by Dalí with two human arms stretched upwards as a sign of despair. Edward’s bed itself was inspired by a sketch of the Napoleon hearse. and its bathroom was covered with translucent alabaster, through which electrical images of the sun and the increasing moon shone.
The contrast was singular. because the interior, contrary to what was happening in Cadaqués or Figueres, was nothing of Mediterranean, but was, even in his delusions, deeply English: the chimneys inside, for example, were of Regency style. Old furniture had been installed. and the walls of only surrealist house england revisited the living room and the dining room were lined and buttoned with gray linen, as if it were a Victorian sofa. The floor was covered with a carpet of green billiards and. as it could not be otherwise in an English house, the spiral staircase was covered with carpet, but with a curious detail: the footprints of the bare feet of Edward’s wife (who, after their divorce, had it redone with the fingerprints of his dogs).
Only surrealist house england revisited
A battle for the possession of the house
Further reading: The most beautiful Art Nouveau facade in Paris is hidden in the 7th – The first creative workshop dedicated to pouring-painting has just opened in Bordeaux – “Before I even had the bac, I had set up my micro-enterprise!”: With its frescoes, the Varois Arnaud, alias Isayka, colors the world – The Orsay Museum opens its first terrace for summer – Lectoure: a fresco pays homage to Marseille and Pagnol thanks to a local artist and a bar boss.
