Hôtel de Tingry

A classified historical monument, the Hôtel de Tingry was built in the 17th century by Joseph Balthazard des Laurents, whose descendant Eléonore Pulchérie des Laurents married Charles François Christian Montmorency-Luxembourg, Prince of Tingry, who gave his name to this mansion. The Count of Rantzau, captain of the King of Denmark, took refuge in the house in 1781 until his death in 1789. The Hôtel de Tingry, was purchased by the American arts patron, Nancy Brown Negley and was her private residence for 13 years, before she donated the property to the Fondation Mérimée and the Nancy B Negley Association to promote cultural and creative activities in the area.

Transformational experiences in the world of art and ideas

The Dora Maar Cultural Center founded by the Nancy B. Negley, is located in the heart of Provence, France, in two historic properties: the Dora Maar House alongside the Hotel de Tingry.

Dora Maar House

The Dora Maar House residency program offers residencies for individuals of exceptional vision to produce enduring works of arts, literature, and scholarship.

Hôtel de Tingry

Hôtel de Tingry hosts members of the Dorée Society and different cultural events throughout the year.

The Area: Ménerbes & Provence

The village of Ménerbes holds the official classification as a one of “the prettiest villages of France.” It is part of the regional park of the Luberon, a protected game and wildlife area covering the mountains of the Luberon range and located within Provence, or southern France. Dating back to the Paleolithic age, the village sits on a narrow spine of a hilltop. Nostradamus claimed it looked like a ship in an ocean of vineyards. In the Roman period the village was known as Minerva, after the goddess of crafts, poetry and wisdom as well as the inventor of music.

The village boasts many historical buildings. Among them is the church of Saint-Luc, which was reconstructed in the 16th century on the ruins of an older church. The Castellet, which later belonged to the painter Nicolas de Stael (1914-1955), was used successfully as a fortress by the Huguenots in the 16th century. The 18th century Hôtel d’Astier de Montfaucon now houses the town’s Maison de la Truffe et du Vin du Luberon, a civic building dedicated to truffles, Luberon wines and other local products. And the two buildings of the Nancy B. Negley Association the historic Hotel de Tingry, and the Dora Maar House.

The Office

La Maison Dora Maar
58 rue du Portail Neuf
84560 Ménerbes, FRANCE
+33 (0)4 90 72 54 70

Contacts:

Office: Laurence Varenik lvarenik@maisondoramaar.org

Press, Communication, Tours, Location rentals:

MacKenzie Mercurio mmercurio@maisondoramaar.org

Donation or partnership inquiries :

Amy Buchan abuchan@maisondoramaar.org

Contact us

The Dora Maar House

Located in Ménerbes, one of the most beautiful villages in France, this 18th century town house was the property of General-Baron Robert (1772-1831), a native of Ménerbes who received numerous honors during the Napoleonic wars in Spain, and was bought in 1944 by Dora Maar, surrealist artist and photographer. Companion and muse of Picasso from the late 1930s to the early 1940s, following their breakup Dora spent each summer in solitude in Ménerbes. After her death in 1997, an American arts patron, Nancy Brown Negley, bought and renovated the house to create a residency for writers, academics and artists.

Since 2007, the ‘Nancy B. Negley Artists Residency Program’, based at the Dora Maar House in Ménerbes, France, has offered residencies of one to two months to mid-career arts and humanities professionals to focus on their areas of expertise. The program was originally directed by Katherine Howe along with the Brown Foundation and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

At the beginning of 2020, Mrs. Negley created the Nancy B. Negley Association under the aegis of the Fondation Mérimée and gifted the Hotel de Tingry (a classified historical monument) and the Dora Maar House to the Fondation Mérimée. The Fondation Mérimée are the owners of the two buildings while the Dora Maar Cultural center occupy them and run the programs.