Celebrities in Mougins
A long love story
In 1924, the avant-garde surrealist painter Francis Picabia decided to build his home there. His artist friends, Fernand Léger, Paul Eluard, Robert Desnos, Jean Cocteau, Isadora Duncan, Man RayandRené Clair followed him and also stayed on the hill.
Between 1936 and 1938, a certain Pablo Picasso joined them for festive stays at the “Vaste Horizon” hotel located at the entrance to the old village. One morning, the owner of this hotel discovered an entire wall of Picasso’s room covered with drawings that could shock right-thinking people.
He had all traces of it erased… The unfortunate one!
Picasso was so fond of Mougins that he ended up acquiring a huge property there in 1961, the Mas Notre-Dame-de-Vie, with his last wife Jacqueline Roque.
In this Provençal house in the heart of the Mougin countryside, which he nicknamed “the lair of the Minotaur”, the famous painter and sculptor shut himself away, almost reclusively, and produced some 300 works until his death in 1973 at the age of 91.
Dans son sillage, son ami et photographe André Villers tissera également des liens forts avec Mougins.
Just like Christian Dior, who lived in the heart of the village for a while.
Edith Piaf occupied the sublime Gatounière in the spring of 1963, a few months before she passed away. Avant elle, en 1955 Georges Simenon avait achevé dans cette dans cette même propriété son roman La boule noire.
Wilson Churchill, aimait écrire au cœur de la campagne, devant la chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Vie lorsqu’il séjournait au Mas attenant, qui appartenait à la famille Guinness avant d’être acheté par Picasso.
Jacques Brel, stayed in the village for a time while learning to fly.
Yves Saint-Laurent, Coco Chanel,Roland Petit, Zizi Jeanmaire, Paul Anka, Robert Hossein,Catherine Deneuve and Jeanne Moreauhave also stayed here, to name but a few.
The legendary welcome from the chef Roger Vergé and his wife Denise attracted other international stars to their Michelin-star restaurants: Elizabeth Taylor, Sharon Stone, Sean Connery...
Not to mention the politicians, such as Alassane Ouattara, President of the Côte d’Ivoire and François Hollande, who both own a property in the town.
Or the athletes, such as Henri Leconteor Patrick Vieira.
Recently, french actor Franck Duboscalso bought a house in Mougins, where he happily comes to recharge his batteries with his family between shoots.