Both Badovici and Gray knew Le Corbusier, who was considered the most prominent modernist architect of the time. In fact, Le Corbusier had encouraged her work early in her career and had become fascinated with her as a person and an artist. He developed an obsessive interest in E.1027, and in 1938 he entered the house and painted a series of eight sexual murals on the walls. Some say Badovici invited him, while others say he was uninvited.
Whether invited or not, he himself called it vandalism. Gray was livid when she discovered what had happened. She insisted that Badovici write a letter to Le Corbusier, demanding that he pay to have the murals removed and return the house to its original condition. Le Corbusier reacted by publishing photographs, saying his murals "burst out from dull, sad walls where nothing is happening…an immense transformation, a spiritual value introduced throughout."
In the 1952 Le Corbusier built a wooden structure knows as the Cabanon near E.1027, so he could look at the house constantly. When Badovici died in 1956, he built a two-storey hostel overlooking the house. In 1965 Le Corbusier had a heart attack and died while swimming in the waters outside E.1027.
Gray died in 1976 at almost 100 years of age, and it is said that she never got over her resentment about the murals.
From kaufmann-mercantile.com, ounodesign.com, patriciaoreilly.com and shedworking.co.uk
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| E.1027 ounodesign.com |
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| E.1027 ounodesign.com |
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| Le Corbusier, his wife and Jean Badovici ounodesign.com |
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| Le Corbusier painting one of the murals at E.1027 kaufmann-mercantile.com |
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| Le Corbusier and one of the murals fondationlecorbusier.fr |
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| Cabanon shedworking.co.uk |
For those of you curious about the scar on Le Corbusier's leg, he was injured in 1938 while swimming in Saint-Tropez Bay. He was trapped under a yacht as it passed over him, and the propeller blades cut him badly. You can read his account of the incident here.
