Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes

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Cabanon, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. 1951-52

Cabanon, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. 1951-52

Richard Pare. Le Corbusier’s Cabanon, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin 1951–52. Chromogenic color print, 2012. © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC. Photo © Richard Pare

Curator, Barry Bergdoll: In the early 1950s, Le Corbusier built a cabin for himself and his wife, Yvonne, on the French Riviera, called Le Cabanon. He would spend all his summers there, until his death in 1965.

Architect, Jean-Louis Cohen: The interior of Le Cabanon was very personal. It was not meant for anyone else than Le Corbusier and his wife. It was very Spartan: wooden sleeping benches, very hard tables and very simple seats. At the same time, it was a very exquisite and very well-carved interior. But again, an interior meant to be looking towards the landscape of the gulf, towards the sea.

At Le Cabanon, Le Corbusier completes a journey he had started in the Jura Mountains. Born in the mountains, he had, at the end of his life, a very intense nostalgia for the landscapes he had discovered during his youth. And the Cabanon in a way became a place of reconciliation /between the old man, who had already very significant built, painted, sculpted work, and the Mediterranean world which had been so fascinating for him when he was young.