сontroversy with
le corbusier

Gray and Badovici split in 1931. E-1027 remained with Badovici while Gray built herself a new villa: Tempe a païa. She explicitly stated that she wanted the walls of E-1027 to remain permanently white. This lead to controversy when Le Corbusier, a friend of Badovici, visited E-1027 in 1938 and, without receiving permission, painted eight cubist murals on its walls. Some of them contained sexual images alluding to Gray, and photos revealed that Le Corbusier had painted her naked. Gray declared it an act of vandalism and male chauvinism, while Le Corbusier claimed he was merely joking.

However, for Le Corbusier, the murals and E-1027 likely weren’t simply a joke. He was obsessed with E-1027 throughout the rest of his life. Le Corbusier tried to purchase the house many times and added extra imagery to some of the murals when he could—even as late as 1962. After his efforts failed, he built himself a small summer house adjacent to E-1027 called Cabanon. Le Corbusier eventually died of a heart attack in 1965 while swimming in front of E-1027.

Le Corbusier’s mural at E-1027 depicting two lovers
Tempe a païa interior

Le Corbusier’s mural at E-1027.

Tempe a païa interior, 1932.

 

Naked Le Corbusier painting one of his murals at Eileen Gray's E-1027, looking into camera
Le Corbusier, Yvonne Gallis and Jean Badovici at E-1027
Created with Sketch.

the significance of E-1027 is that it is both an example of avant-garde modernism and a subtle critique of the functionalist element in modernism. —tim benton, art historian

Eileen Gray’s St. Tropez rug. View from above
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