Le Pin Perdu: The House That Max Built.
Well, perhaps not built. As the farmhouse known as Le Pin (the pine) had been in Huismes since forever, rehabilitated is a better word.
In 1955, surrealist artists Max Ernst and his wife Dorothea Tanning converted Le Pin into a comfortable home and studios. The name change, Le Pin Perdu, came about when they found that le pin had disappeared.
Thanks to its present owners Dominique Bailly, the sculptor, and Dominique Marchès, the photographer, fans of Max and Dorothea can wander around the garden soaking up the atmosphere. One would not be the least surprised to see Max wander in, so evocative is the home he loved. The Sculptor and the Photographer are without doubt worthy custodians of the great man’s legacy. He would be pleased.
Admirers of works by Max and Dorothea in Tate Modern London, when we moved to the Touraine we were astonished to see the Max Ernst Fountain a few minutes walk from our house in Amboise. So intrigued were we, our book Max Ernst and The Genie of Amboise almost wrote itself. Having visited M. Marchès at Le Pin Perdu to discuss the book we returned recently to donate a copy to the library. While there, we were fortunate to see his wonderful exhibitions, one devoted to Dorothea’s work, the other Fifty Women Artists and Dorothea Tanning.
How did it come about that the world famous artist, co-founder of Dada and Surrealism ended up in Huismes, a small village well off the tourist trail in The Loire Valley? Serendipity.
Ernst was sixty-four. Despite all the accolades, artistically he hadn’t achieved all that he wanted to achieve and felt instinctively the place for that was not Paris. His life was governed by instinct.
Living standards were not great. Decent accommodation in post-war Paris was hard to come by. They rented, as Dorothea said in her autobiography, Birthday, two cold rooms up five flights of stairs ‘under the Mansard’ (roof). They had no bathroom and cooked on gas burners.
One day all that changed.
Max won The Grand Prize for Painting at the 1954 Venice Biennale. An understatement to say very welcome news. His finances were never very stable.
The Prize brought Max international recognition and solo exhibitions. It took the world a long time to recognise him as a major artist but after forty-five years, he had arrived. He was now a Name. Collectable. Dealers wanted his work. For the first time in his life he didn’t have to worry about money. For the first time in his life he had financial security. For the first time in his life, his dream of settling down in the French countryside was within his grasp. All he had to do was find somewhere he and Dorothea could be happy.
Enter Jean Davidson, son-in-law of Ernst’s old friend Alexander (Sandy) Calder. Sandy had won The Venice Biennale prize for sculpture in 1952. They met in 1920s Paris while struggling to sell their work. When Max Ernst made a friend, he made a friend for life.
Jean Davidson, French on his mother’s side, lived in Saché in the Loire Valley where the novelist Honoré Balzac spent his summers. He met Sandy in America when Davidson was French Press Correspondent in Washington.
When Sandy visited Jean, he fell in love with the Touraine. He used part of Davidson’s old mill house as a studio and asked him to find somewhere in Saché for him. Davidson found him a house on the banks of the Indre and an old farmhouse for Max a half hour drive from Sandy.
Le Pin had been waiting for Max, Dorothea, their Tibetan terriers (Lhasa Apso’s) Dreamy and Katchina and Groucho the Pekingese. With the whole of France to choose from, they decided that Huismes (pronounced Weem) a village few had heard of, then or now, was perfect. After (by anyone’s standards) a tumultuous life (an understatement if ever there was one) Max Ernst, at sixty-four, traded in the hub bub of Paris for the peace and quiet of The Loire Valley. He knew that his hero, Leonardo da Vinci, was also sixty-four when he found safe haven in Amboise, an hour’s drive from Huismes. The good life became even better at Le Pin Perdu when another of Max’s dreams came true. In February 1959 His Excellency Michel Debré in his capacity as Prime Minister wrote to Max. ‘France would be honoured...’
Max and Dorothea read the letter in the kitchen. They then opened champagne and asked Monsieur D, their gardener and Yvette, their housekeeper to join them in a toast. Max, who lived most of his life in France, had finally achieved his dream of being a French citizen. Max did some of his best work in Huismes. He was content. Fulfilled. He and Dorothea found Le Pin Perdu soothing. So did we. Go along. Judge for yourself. You will find a warm welcome.
Max Ernst: and The Genie of Amboise
eBook, Paperback
