Estee Lauder
Estee Lauder portrait painting by Peter Engels.
To bring back Estee Lauder’s spirit into her legendary Mediterranean estate, the new owners commissioned artist Peter Engels to paint Estée Lauder’s portrait.
“Only one artist can revive an icon like Estee Lauder,” says villa renovator Claudia Kempen. “The same artist that painted celebrities like Nelson Mandela, Karl Lagerfeld, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Daniel Craig… Prince Albert of Monaco bought from this artist the impressive Grace Kelly portrait. Richard Branson actually modelled ‘live’ for Belgian artist Peter Engels.”
In the background Peter Engels painted a hint of the majestic entrance staircase with its curly wrought iron handrail as one of the beautiful features of the belle époque villa named ‘Roche Cline’. Faintly but always loyal to his unique artistic style, Peter Engels mixed turquoise paint for the sunlit staircase. Not by coincidence the artist mixed Estee Lauder’s typical green-blue from her “Youth Dew” floral bath oil. This colour is also used in details throughout the villa’s interior design.
Villa Roche Cline, Estee Lauder’s first residence abroad, became a wonderful reality after she and her husband fell in love with the south of France in April 1961. Estee Lauder intensely enjoyed the view on the Mediterranean from her window. The estate and the beautiful flower garden inspired her in creating some of her renowned perfumes. She was deeply moved by the colours and fragrances of her blooming garden. Giving her “ideas and directions” as she put it in het biography.
Estée Lauder is the only woman on Time Magazine’s List of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. When Estée Lauder died in 2004 at the age of 97, her villa Roche Cline in Cannes, France, fell in disrepair for more than a decade until it was rescued and restored as a cultural heritage.
Thanks to this renovation the Estee Lauder legend can live on in Cannes. In loving memory of this great lady it is all still there: her house, her garden, her view. And due to Peter Engels’ painted portrait of Estée Lauder, villa Roche Cline regained its soul.
> > Also read how artist Peter Engels met Karl Lagerfeld, Prince Albert of Monaco, Richard Branson, 007-actor Roger Moore, Jazz icon Toots Thielemans, and several other celebrities
ArtistPeter EngelsMediumAcrylic on canvasSize (W x H) 200 x 100 cmContactart@peterengels.euPriceSOLD
The Estee Lauder portrait painting by Peter Engels had to bring back the Estee Lauder spirit into her legendary Mediterranean estate in Cannes, South of France. In the background of the painting Peter Engels painted a hint of the majestic entrance staircase as one of the beautiful features of the belle époque villa.
