Since 29 March 2025, the Villa Noailles has presented an exhibition exploring its collections throughout its history. Built in 1923 by architect Robert-Mallet-Stevens on the request of Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailels, the Clos Saint-Bernard, known now as Villa Noailles has never ceased to inspire artists. May Ray who was the couple’s friend and regular visitor as well as Thérèse Bonney, whose photographs illustrated the leading architecture magazines, ensured the house’s renown from the moment it was built. Over the decades, numerous photographers, filmmakers and painters immortalized the house in their turn.

After Marie-Laure’s death in 1970, the closed villa gave rise to a new fascination. Like a modernist ocean liner now populated by ghosts, it attracted photographers and filmmakers who scoured its every nook and cranny in search of traces of its glorious past. Successive restoration campaigns carried out by the town of Hyères, the owner of the property, the state, and all local authorities are gradually making the villa accessible to the public. From the 1990s onwards, the villa’s history became intertwined with that of the Hyères Fashion Festival, founded in 1986, which organizes exhibitions and photo shoots in the house. The villa became the ideal setting for young designers.

Definitively opened as an art center in 2003, and transferred to the Métropole Toulon Provence Méditerranée, the Villa Noailles perpetuates the spirit of its founders through artistic commissions and residencies. A whole new generation has appropriated the details of its architecture and its unwaveringly modern silhouette.

This exhibition curated by Thomas Lequeu and Alexia Le Bris is currently on view until 25 May 2025. More information HERE.