A few months ago we visited Strasbourg. One of the two capitals for the European Union. Beside an excellent modern art museum ( another blog in the near future) this used to be the town of the Aubette. The Aubette was a “dancehall”/activity center designed by Theo van Doesburg, just right after he had left the DE STIJL mouvement. He left because he wanted to use the diagonal line too and not be restricted to only horizontal and vertical lines. The Aubette does not exist anymore. There is a plaque fixed on the wall where once was the Aubette, but what remains are the many designs , drawings and photographs that documented this masterpiece of architecture and with the many wall decorations with diagonal lines, one can imagine that this must have been very impressive when it was opened in 1928. Theo van Doesburg made one of the most breathtaking buildings of the 20’s.
It is nice to know that the Modern Art Museum in Strasbourg recognized the importance of the Aubette and dedicated some of the rooms within the museum to the Aubette. It is possible to virtually walk through these rooms.
see: http://www.musees.strasbourg.eu/index.php?page=aubette-virtueel-bezoek.
Beside the Aubette van Doesburg also designed a house in Meudon. A house which i once visited without knowing it was a van Doesburg design. The party which was held over there was more important to me. Wish a had known at that time what i know now…and i would have paid much more attention to the outside and interior of this iconic piece of architecture. Now there is only a memory left that i missed something……….
wilfried
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