Villa Bernard-Henri Levy in Tangier offered for sale by Christie's agency for 6 million euros. Andre Putman (1925-2013) designed the house - designer, legend of French decor, master of an elegant, discreet and luxurious interior.
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Bernard-Henri Levy (b. 1948) became famous as a Parisian intellectual back in 1977, thanks to the book attacking Marxist France, “Barbarism with a human face”. Since then, he has published dozens of volumes and scripts. A political journalist and philosopher, he actively directs, comments, speaks. No less than rhetoric, he is known for his numerous novels and real estate objects, living between Paris, New York and Morocco.
Levi says that he bought a villa in Tangier in 2000: when he came across it, it seemed to him that this is the most magical place in the world - on the top of a cliff above Gibraltar where the Atlantic and the Mediterranean meet.
House area of 6,200 square meters. m. located between the same magnificent houses that belonged to the publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes and couturier Yves Saint Laurent.
In order to remake the real estate of the 1920s in his own taste, Levi invited his friend - one of the most prominent interior designers - Madame Andre Putman.
The password between them was the "equivalent of Mondrian." (Levi wrote a book about the Dutch artist Piet Mondrian, the modernist, the founder of De Stijl).
Clear linear interior. Steep stairs going down the cliff leading to the water. In the living rooms - huge rectangular windows facing the bright blue sea. The bedroom on the upper level is connected to the open terrace. Equipped sauna, gym, swimming pool. A house for writing and recreation, open to friends, within walking distance of El Minzah, the famous The Beat Generation hotel.
“This is the end of the world. Africa is looking at Europe. Smells and tastes - everything is valued differently. It is in this context that a beautiful day arises. ”
The repair took almost five years: a stone was brought from Italy, iron fences - from an old factory in America, a special tree could only be found in a Canadian province.
The interior was created as if it was not going to be decorated, as if it was not finished, perhaps unloved. Levi refers to Adolf Loos, a Viennese architect who beautifully said that for God and for artists the materials are equal and of equal value.
“The work of the architect must be omnipresent, but invisible,” recalls Andre Putman in the film “House in Tangier”, filmed by Benoit Jacquot. - In principle, I have always sought to reconcile the poor and rich materials. Always consciously collected the "harvest" of emotions, obsessive ideas, born of geometric shapes. The anti-conformist idea of space, light and elegance in detail; sometimes humor flows into it ... It's a pleasure for me to see the sun play with shadows softening all straight lines. What colors? It is difficult to call by name shades of spices and fruits, white pepper and slate, stone and Chinese varnish. Each of them contains conflicting tones.
There is a catastrophic fall to the sea. It was difficult to redraw it. The staircase opens up a vertical circulation, this is the spine, a pedestrian bridge to help you go down to the sea. He is born in the house and continues outside.
This is the end of the world. Africa is looking at Europe. Smells and tastes - everything is valued differently. It is in this context that a wonderful new day arises. ”
