{"id":48016,"date":"2025-09-28T09:37:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T09:37:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/48016\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T09:37:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T09:37:22","slug":"when-your-home-becomes-a-gallery-an-art-filled-mansions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/48016\/","title":{"rendered":"When your home becomes a gallery: an art-filled mansions …"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine a perfect summer residence and Sa\u00a0Bassa Blanca might well spring to mind. This whitewashed mansion in the north of Mallorca, surrounded by perfumed scrub and overlooking the turquoise waters of a rocky bay, is a picture of sleepy Mediterranean bliss. But owners Yannick Vu and Ben Jakober, 83 and 95 respectively, are hardly the types to sit still: there is work to be done. Soon, the couple will make their way to their other home in Marrakech, where they spend the winter months, and plenty still needs wrapping up at the end of this Balearic stint.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sunny, stiflingly hot morning in late summer when we meet, but the artists are both dressed all in black. Vu wears a geometric Issey Miyake handbag; Jakober a fetching Panama hat. We sit for coffee under a parasol and talk about the weeks ahead. \u201cVery busy,\u201d says Vu. The diary is packed with visits by curators and gallerists, there are exhibitions to prep. This isn\u2019t just any normal home. For years, much of the property has been given over to Vu and Jakober\u2019s foundation and public museum, and it brims with artworks.<\/p>\n

\"Solving <\/p>\n

Solving the puzzle:\u00a0artists Ben Jakober and Yannick Vu with some of their art and design pieces<\/p>\n

There was a time in the mid-90s when this was simply a\u00a0family house where the couple was surrounded by their children and friends. Vu and Jakober had studios here, too, where they worked both separately first, and together later. But the art eventually took over. Their penchant for collecting began with their obsession with children\u2019s portraits from the 16th to 19th centuries (they now have 165, from Spain, France, Germany, Italy and beyond). In the end, the habit pushed them out of their own bedrooms and dining rooms. \u201cCollecting is a confidence thing,\u201d says Vu, reflecting on over half a century of acquiring art. \u201cNo,\u201d Jakober chips in, \u201cit\u2019s an illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Artworks are crammed into every room and tessellated on every wall. \u201cHorror vacui,\u201d says Vu, referring to their fear of empty spaces. There\u2019s everything from paintings by Aboriginal artist Emily Kam Kngwarray to 3m-high wooden statues from Cameroon, self-portraits by Meret Oppenheim and ceramic figures from the Rif mountains, all held together by the house itself, a conspicuous presence that has led the two to refer to this place as a \u201cgesamtkunstwerk\u201d \u2013 the Wagnerian idea of a \u201ctotal work of art\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Some <\/p>\n

\u2018Some kind of paradise\u2019: the remarkable library which contains more than 10,000 books<\/p>\n

When the couple bought the house in 1978, it looked very different. \u201cIt was an old farm \u2013 an improbable amalgamation of styles, and not great,\u201d says Vu. But the duo saw its charm and set about finding someone who could redesign it in the way they imagined. Leafing through a French architecture magazine, they chanced upon the perfect candidate: Hassan Fathy. Jakober called the magazine\u2019s editor, a friend, to ask how he could be connected to the Egyptian architect, and a\u00a0meeting was arranged.<\/p>\n

Fathy visited the site in Mallorca, on a little promontory just west of the Medieval town of Alc\u00fadia, and the owners presented their vision for an overhaul. \u201cHe said, \u2018It\u2019s nice, but I think I can do better,\u2019\u201d laughs Jakober. The result, completed in 1980, is Fathy\u2019s only project in Europe, displaying all the trademark signs of his North African vernacular and the traditional building techniques he favoured.<\/p>\n

\"Lips <\/p>\n

Lips that would kiss: a Salvador Dal\u00ed sofa is offset by Andalusian\u00a0tiles in the \u2018chair\u2019 room<\/p>\n

The house\u2019s Arab-inflected aesthetic \u2013 its lancet windows, latticed woodwork and heavy patterned doors \u2013 also reflects Mallorca\u2019s own history and intermingling of cultures. Jakober and Vu are intrigued by the idea of different traditions running parallel to one another, which is why the foundation features a \u201cconfluence\u201d room of artefacts sourced from all around the world. But the crested outer walls of the house also echo Vu\u2019s previous residence on the island, S\u2019Estaca, where she used to live with her first husband, Italian painter Domenico Gnoli, who died in 1970 aged just 36.<\/p>\n

Inside the museum, a room is dedicated to Gnoli\u2019s work, alongside one for Vu\u2019s father, the renowned Vietnamese painter Vu Cao Dam. As the couple\u2019s collection has grown, the property has morphed to accommodate it. The house\u2019s water reservoir has been converted into an exhibition space. A further subterranean gallery was added later, and there\u2019s also a vast sculpture park dotted with the couple\u2019s own monumental sculptures, many of them inspired by mythological animals from Japan and Egypt.<\/p>\n

\"Make <\/p>\n

Make an entrance: a vast artwork on the terrace outside Sa Bassa Blanca<\/p>\n

Vu and Jakober have backed themselves into a corner of the house, a few small rooms and a kitchen, where Jakober laughingly says they are \u201callowed\u201d to live. Through the entrance hall \u2013 hung with portraits of the duo by artists including Hassan Hajjaj and Lord Snowdon \u2013 a solid door leads to the kitchen. Here, colourful Andalusian-style patterned tiles take pride of place on the walls (a hint to the smaller tiles that cheerfully accent the floor of the whole house). The double-level library might now also be open to the public, but Jakober still loves to spend time there and says he has leafed through all 10,000 volumes on the shelves.<\/p>\n

When they host dinners, Jakober and Vu use the long table underneath the portico that looks out on to the house\u2019s internal courtyard. With its twinkling fountains, Islamic-inspired geometries and lush palms, it feels like something straight out of the Alhambra. There\u2019s also a recessed area clad in terracotta. \u201cWe used this space like a theatre: people would sit in the pit and look at the action in front,\u201d says Jakober, taking a fleeting glimpse back. \u201cWe had a great time,\u201d says Vu. \u201cBut life moves on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\u2018Confluence\u2019: <\/p>\n

\u2018Confluence\u2019: colourful tiles blend the house\u2019s Spanish origins with the architect\u2019s North African\u00a0vernacular<\/p>\n

Jakober takes on a serious tone when he talks about the future of the foundation. \u201cI hope it will have a happy ending. When we have gone on to a better life, we hope it can continue,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging to see that we are doing something that makes people happy.\u201d For now, though, there are meetings to organise, patrons to receive, visitors to host. \u201cI never particularly liked holidays, even when I was a child,\u201d adds Vu with a smile. \u201cI always just wanted to do things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Imagine a perfect summer residence and Sa\u00a0Bassa Blanca might well spring to mind. This whitewashed mansion in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-48016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}