The collection, the villa Noailles photographed, filmed, painted, drawn and embroidered

Exhibition “Collections, the architecture of the villa Noailles”
from 29 March to 25 May 2025

Built from 1923 onwards by architect Robert Mallet-Stevens at the request of Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, the Clos Saint-Bernard, known as Villa Noailles
has never ceased to inspire artists. Man Ray, the couple’s friend and regular visitor, and Thérèse Bonney, whose photographs illustrated the leading architecture magazines, ensured the house’s renown from the moment it was built. Over the decades, numerous photographers, filmmakers and painters immortalized the house in their turn.

After Marie-Laure’s death in 1970, the closed villa aroused a new fascination. Like a modernist ocean liner now populated by ghosts, it attracted photographers and filmmakers who scoured its every nook and cranny in search of traces of its glorious past. Successive restoration campaigns carried out by the town of Hyères, owner of the property, the state, and all local authorities are gradually making the villa accessible to the public. From the 1990s onwards, the villa’s history became intertwined with that of the Hyères Fashion Festival, founded in 1986, which organizes exhibitions and photo shoots in the house. The villa became the ideal setting for young designers.

Definitively opened as an art center in 2003, and transfered to the Métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée, the Villa Noailles perpetuates the spirit of its founders through artistic commissions and residencies. A whole new generation has appropriated the details of its architecture and its unwaveringly modern silhouette.

In this exhibition, the Villa Noailles uses its collections to explore the diversity of ways in which it has been viewed throughout its history.

Salles voûtées, villa Noailles, Hyères

Curated by : Thomas Lequeu, Alexia Le Bris