Imagine a place where the sun-kissed Mediterranean meets the hills of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, a sanctuary for artistic geniuses. This is La Pausa, a villa with a rich history and an even richer legacy.
La Pausa, once owned by the iconic Coco Chanel, has witnessed the creation of masterpieces and the birth of ideas that shaped our world. It's where Salvador Dalí painted his haunting 'The Enigma of Hitler', a work that seems to foretell the horrors of war. And it's where Winston Churchill penned parts of his monumental 'A History of the English-Speaking Peoples', inspired by the very view he painted.
But La Pausa is more than just a backdrop to great works; it's a place where legends gathered. Somerset Maugham, Colette, Igor Stravinsky, and Jean Cocteau all graced its halls, indulging in lunches that stretched from day to night, fueled by passionate debates and discussions on art and life.
When the luxury fashion brand Chanel bought back La Pausa in 2015, they embarked on a mission to restore it to its former glory. Architect Peter Marino meticulously studied countless photographs to ensure every detail was perfect, from the concrete squares on the lawn to the potted cacti at the staircase's base. Even the original bedframes were sourced, and a mirrored bathroom, reminiscent of Coco's Paris apartment, was installed.
But how do you capture the essence of a place so steeped in history and creativity? How do you honor the spirits that once inhabited its walls? The answer, Chanel believed, was a library.
Books, after all, are a reflection of the minds that have inhabited them. They offer a glimpse into the interests, desires, and friendships of their owners, especially when those owners are artists and writers. As Chanel herself said, "Books have been my best friends."
When you step into the wood-paneled library at La Pausa, you step into the minds of the greats. Biographies of Picasso sit alongside rare editions of Cecil Beaton's Scrapbook and dust jackets designed by Vanessa Bell for her sister Virginia Woolf's 'The Waves'. First editions of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway, frequent visitors to the French Riviera, line the shelves.
But the library also holds a more personal touch. Bound volumes of Jean Cocteau's letters offer a glimpse into his private world, and books by (or about) other guests, like Somerset Maugham and Greta Garbo, paint a broader picture of the villa's history.
"We believe the future is made with fragments of the past," says Yana Peel, president of arts, culture, and heritage at Chanel. That's why the library also features contemporary works by Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood, Zadie Smith, and Rachel Cusk. And to keep it ever-evolving, guests are invited to leave their own books, adding their unique fragments to the past.
As you stand back and admire the library, you can't help but feel the presence of a vast web of artists, spanning centuries, who influenced and inspired each other, directly or indirectly. At the heart of it all was Coco Chanel, a woman who not only shaped culture but continues to do so even today.
For Coco, books were more than just a medium for escape from her humble beginnings. They were a conduit for her imagination, a way to dream and create her own fabulous tale. In a time when women were denied basic rights, building an empire required immense creativity and storytelling.
So when it came to restoring La Pausa, the library was the obvious choice as its heart and soul, a place that held all the threads of its rich history together. Just as our bookshelves reflect our journeys, our curiosities, and our escapes, so too does La Pausa's library reflect the spirit of its past residents and the legacy they left behind.
