Sybold Van Ravesteyn, reconstitution de la chambre d’amis (1925-26)

Launched in 2023 to mark the centenary of the Villa Noailles, the reconstruction of the second-floor guest room is continuing. Presented since last summer, the furniture has been reproduced in partnership with the Mobilier national, based on the only armchair in existence to date, as well as numerous photographic archives and drawings and letters exchanged by Sybold Van Ravesteyn and Charles de Noailles.
This year, the bed, armchair, dressing table and desk, initially delivered in untreated wood, will be restored to their original colours. In partnership with the Atelier Meriguet-Carrère, research is being conducted to estimate the shades based on archives and the colour range of existing furniture produced in the same workshops in the early 1920s.
Spotted by Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles, the furniture by Dutch engineer Sybold Van Ravesteyn inspired them to commission a complete guest room for the Clos Saint-Bernard in Hyères.
“The innovative spirit perfectly matched Mallet Stevens’ architecture, which was highly influenced by the work of the Dutch architects and designers. Their commission from Van Ravestijn for the interior design of a guest room on the second floor dates from late 1925. The furniture, made in the Middelbeek workshop in Utrecht, was brought to Marseille by boat in early 1926. Van Ravestijn closely followed the development on site, in close collaboration with architect Léon David, whom he asked to respect the choice of colours, as he considered it a total work of art. The interior was completed with his lamps and an artwork by Piet Mondrian, Tableau II, purchased by the Noailles in Paris in late 1925 on the advice of Sybold van Ravestijn. The bedroom was photographed shortly afterwards, then published by the art critic Christian Zervos in the famous magazine Les arts de la maison. 2”

Although the radical De Stijl movement was less well known in France than the Bauhaus, it nevertheless aroused the interest of the couple, who were attentive to the innovations presented at the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs, who frequented the Jean Désert gallery and who were kept informed of the most innovative productions by the architect of their home, Robert Mallet-Stevens. A member of the movement, Theo Van Doesburg designed the mural of the Chambre des fleurs, 1924-1925, for the villa in Hyères, a room for making bouquets.

2 Excerpt from a text by art historian Monique Teunissen, published in the Design Parade Hyères 2023 catalogue.