Maison Van Doesburg: free visits to the Dutch painter's studio in Meudon (92)

In Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine (92), the house-workshop of Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg, pioneer of the De Stijl movement, reveals art in architecture. Built in 1929, it blends geometric shapes, primary colors and natural light. Discover it every first Saturday of the month by appointment or during the Heritage Days.

Nestled in the Val-Fleury district of Meudon (92), the house-workshop of Dutch painter Theo van Doesburg, founder of the De Stijl movement, is a work of modernist architecture, open free of charge to the curious every first Saturday of the month by appointment (except August) and during the Heritage Days.

In 1917, he co-founded the De Stijl magazine with Piet Mondrian. Ten years later, he was dreaming of a place in his own image to live, create, exhibit and entertain. A project first envisaged with his friends Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber in Clamart. But due to delays caused by tensions with his engineer and a budget that grew faster than the walls, the twin house project was abandoned. The van Doesburgs then set up their easel a little further away, on a narrow, sloping plot of land at 29 rue Charles Infroit in Meudon.

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From 1927 to 1929, Theo conceived every detail of his house as a geometric composition : two parallelepipeds, 90 m2, strictly rectangular shapes, sliding walls instead of doors to play with volumes. Even the staircases, windows, floors and even some of the furniture are designed by the artist. The structure rests on a concrete skeleton filled with Solomite, an innovative material invented in 1929, a mixture of compressed straw and steel wire.

As for the facade, it follows the principles of the De Stijl movement to the letter: flat primary colors - yellow for the garage curtain, blue for the front door, red for the roof terrace. A 3D painting, finalized by Nelly van Doesburg after the sudden death of her husband in March 1931.

Inside, the style is radical: black, white and gray, stained-glass floors and a stained-glass window in Nelly's office. The studio, perched on stilts on the garden side, has a ceiling height of five meters, flooded with light from two vast skylights. Here, light is king!

Listed as a historic monument since 1956, the house now belongs to the Dutch state and houses a foundation that hosts artists in residence.

A house worth seeing in Hauts-de-Seine (95)!