‘A salon, a studio, a brothel’: inside Serge Gainsbourg’s Paris home
- 9 months ago
#A #salon #studio
Outside Serge Gainsbourg's former home on a narrow street in Paris's most expensive district, fans line up like pilgrims at a shrine, their wrists stamped in ink with sketches of their idol's profile, now his posthumous trademark. Long before house, which has been closed for more than three decades since singer-songwriter's death, opened to public 11 , tickets for 30-minute tour were sold out until next year. There is an atmosphere of deep respect as the “rules” of the house are explained photos, no videos, leaning on glass barriers. We are also given headphones and advised to follow the instructions of Charlotte Gainsbourg, 52, the daughter of Serge and British actor Jane Birkin, who in July. Charlotte's breathtaking and emotional narrative, punctuated by happy and not-so-happy memories, accompanies our tour. Among works in the 'arranged mess' in house is a photograph of Gainsbourg's ex-girlfriend Brigitte Bardot. The main entrance, a black door, opens into a long living room with white marble floor tiles and black diamond embellishments. The walls are covered with black felt. The Steinway piano is open, ashtray next to the Gitanes and lighter is full of butts. A large black-and-white photograph a topless Brigitte Bardot, one of Gainsbourg's first lovers, stands out from the pile eclectic artwork and furniture. The wine bottles lined up on the shelves in the tiny kitchen are empty. Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and Angostura bitters sit neatly arranged on shelves in an alcove. The objects in this “very neat mess,” as Charlotte puts it—furniture, photographs, album covers, a collection of police badges—look as if Gainsbourg had just picked up another pack of cigarettes. Since curtains of window and skylight are closed, a gloomy atmosphere is given to place. The house is just like the man dark, brooding, chaotic and a little rude. No 5 bis rue de Verneuil, with its graffiti- and sticker-covered exterior walls, sits uncomfortably among the neighboring bourgeois houses and flats on the one-way street. Gainsbourg bought the two-story property 1969 and lived there with Birkin until she left him in 1980 and his subsequent death 1991. a saloon or brothel. For 32 years, Gainsbourg fans have flocked here to leave their mark on the walls and hope to catch a glimpse inside. Charlotte first said she might let people in a decade ago, but the idea never came to light until now. A corridor inside the house lined with black felt. Gainsbourg is French hero admired not only as a singer-songwriter but also as composer, poet, painter and philosopher. Towards the end of his life, at age 62, he risked destroying that legacy, prematurely ended by alcohol several packs of unfiltered Gitanes a day, and being remembered as an increasingly sad, disorganized depraved vagabond. Today he is either loved as a genius - he had 12 gold records, five double gold and six platinum - or despised as a rude, drunken provocateur and misogynist. François
Outside Serge Gainsbourg's former home on a narrow street in Paris's most expensive district, fans line up like pilgrims at a shrine, their wrists stamped in ink with sketches of their idol's profile, now his posthumous trademark. Long before house, which has been closed for more than three decades since singer-songwriter's death, opened to public 11 , tickets for 30-minute tour were sold out until next year. There is an atmosphere of deep respect as the “rules” of the house are explained photos, no videos, leaning on glass barriers. We are also given headphones and advised to follow the instructions of Charlotte Gainsbourg, 52, the daughter of Serge and British actor Jane Birkin, who in July. Charlotte's breathtaking and emotional narrative, punctuated by happy and not-so-happy memories, accompanies our tour. Among works in the 'arranged mess' in house is a photograph of Gainsbourg's ex-girlfriend Brigitte Bardot. The main entrance, a black door, opens into a long living room with white marble floor tiles and black diamond embellishments. The walls are covered with black felt. The Steinway piano is open, ashtray next to the Gitanes and lighter is full of butts. A large black-and-white photograph a topless Brigitte Bardot, one of Gainsbourg's first lovers, stands out from the pile eclectic artwork and furniture. The wine bottles lined up on the shelves in the tiny kitchen are empty. Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco and Angostura bitters sit neatly arranged on shelves in an alcove. The objects in this “very neat mess,” as Charlotte puts it—furniture, photographs, album covers, a collection of police badges—look as if Gainsbourg had just picked up another pack of cigarettes. Since curtains of window and skylight are closed, a gloomy atmosphere is given to place. The house is just like the man dark, brooding, chaotic and a little rude. No 5 bis rue de Verneuil, with its graffiti- and sticker-covered exterior walls, sits uncomfortably among the neighboring bourgeois houses and flats on the one-way street. Gainsbourg bought the two-story property 1969 and lived there with Birkin until she left him in 1980 and his subsequent death 1991. a saloon or brothel. For 32 years, Gainsbourg fans have flocked here to leave their mark on the walls and hope to catch a glimpse inside. Charlotte first said she might let people in a decade ago, but the idea never came to light until now. A corridor inside the house lined with black felt. Gainsbourg is French hero admired not only as a singer-songwriter but also as composer, poet, painter and philosopher. Towards the end of his life, at age 62, he risked destroying that legacy, prematurely ended by alcohol several packs of unfiltered Gitanes a day, and being remembered as an increasingly sad, disorganized depraved vagabond. Today he is either loved as a genius - he had 12 gold records, five double gold and six platinum - or despised as a rude, drunken provocateur and misogynist. François