Villa Cypris

This astonishing architecture of the Villa Cypris is characteristic of an era where all eccentricities are possible and show an attraction for the exoticism of the end of the world. Destinations accessible to the wealthy who bring back inspirations and natural species that they acclimatize in extraordinary gardens. Here, no notion of excess, only refinement and originality count. It must be said that on this tiny territory are the greatest of this world, powerful industrialists, pioneers of modern commerce, press magnates and artists! Empress Eugenie, Félix Faure, Raymond Poincaré, Edouard VII, Joseph Pulitzer, Hélène Rochas, Auguste Rodin, Jean Cocteau, and many others, including Claude Monnet, one of the founders of Impressionism. Fascinated by the particular colours. He produces a dozen paintings here. He describes his work at Cap Martin to a friend saying “… And I’m sure that those who haven’t seen this country or haven’t seen it well, will scream at the implausibility— The country is better every day and I am passionate about it.” A language similar to that of Churchill for whom the painter’s palette enriches each outing with an observer’s discovery. He wrote, "So varied are the shades according to the interplay of shade and sun,... so brilliant are the reflections,… so delicious the shades of light, gilding or silvering the surfaces and contours, exquisitely touching them in pale colors, pink, orange, green or purple.” What better invitation to linger on the colors of these landscapes ?