History
The house was originally constructed during the reign of Henry IV of France and a clerical residence, with twelve rooms, adjacent to the Chateau of Milly-la-Forêt. The house adjoins the walls and moat of the 13th century chateau. In 1947, at a time when his fame and fortune had been greatly increased by the enormous success of his film Beauty and The Beast, Cocteau and his frequent companion of the time, the film actor Jean Marais, purchased part of the domain of the chateau, including the house, garden and part of the woods, and used it as a retreat from his residence on Rue Montpensier in Paris. Cocteau stayed there on occasion during his early years of ownership, but when he entered a relationship with Edouard Dermit he stayed there for longer periods of time, and created many of his later works there.
Cocteau died on October 11, 1963, at the age of 73 years, and was buried in the Chapel of Saint-Blaise-des Simples nearby, which he had decorated. Dermit inherited the house and the works of art it contained and kept them until his own death in 1995, after which his son Stéphane became owner of the house. In 2002 the businessman and philanthropist Pierre Bergé purchased the house, with the assistance of the Regional Council of the Essonne and the French Ministry of Culture, and began an extensive campaign of restoration between 2005 and 2010. The house was opened to the public by the French Minister of Culture, Frédéric Mitterrand, on June 24, 2010. [2]
The House
17th-century entrance of The Jean Cocteau House
The Grand Salon
Cocteau's side table in his study, with a bust of Lord Byron
The rooms of the house have been recreated as they appeared during Cocteau's residence, with his collections of art works, furniture and souvenirs.
In his study on the first floor, his writing table faced the window, and he sat in a 19th-century gothic revival cathedral chair. The side table and wall are covered with photographs, drawings, and various souvenirs, among them a bust of Lord Byron, a signed photograph of Orson Welles as Othello, a photograph of Pablo Picasso, a drawing of Charles Baudelaire by Manet, and a photo montage of Jean-Paul Sartre and Pope Pius XI. Over the mantlepiece in the study is a high-relief art work of a hot-air balloon caught in a storm, by G. Lapruffe, on the mantlepiece are small works of antique Roman sculpture, and on the wall hangs a portrait of a young woman by the French painter Amoury-Duval (1867).
Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the surrealist, avant-garde, and Dadaist movements; and one of the most influential figures in early 20th-century art as a whole. The National Observer suggested that, “of the artistic generation whose daring gave birth to Twentieth Century Art, Cocteau came closest to being a Renaissance man.”
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