Si le soleil entre dans la maison, il est un peu dans votre cœur

There are only a few weeks left in which to see the Museum of Modern Art, New York, exhibit entitled Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes. Here’s a blog entry from the archives that I wrote about Le Corbusier. The first major exhibit of the work of the Swiss/French architect will be on display until September 23, 2013. The exhibit includes not just architectural models and renderings but watercolors of his travels in Italy, Greece, and Turkey, his sketches of India, and his photographs. There are also four reconstructed interiors. They reveal the many sources from which Le Corbusier drew his inspiration. The works are from the MoMA’s own collection as well as the Le Corbusier Foundation in Paris. If you can’t make it to New York, the exhibit will next move to Fundació “la Caixa” in Barcelona (January 28–May 11, 2014), and to Fundació “la Caixa” in Madrid (June 11–October 13, 2014).
Le Corbusier said, “Si le soleil entre dans la maison, il est un peu dans votre cœur" (see luh sewlay ahntruh dahn lah mayzohn, eel et uhn puh dahn votruh kur), which means "If the sun enters the house, it is a little in your heart." The abundant sunlight is why we bought our current house. When we visited it for the first time, our daughter, who was just a tyke at the time, said “This house speaks to my heart.” She and le Corbusier would have gotten along famously, as her favorite style is mid-century modern. I’ll stick to the styles of previous centuries but just keep the drapes open.

Le Corbusier, 1887 – 1965: The Lyricism of Architecture in the Machine Age

Related articles

• MoMA's Le Corbusier Exhibit is Must-See, Says Critic Alexandra Lange (archdaily.com)
• Why Architect Le Corbusier Wanted To Demolish Downtown Paris (businessinsider.com)
• Le Corbusier (1887 - 1965) (architectbd.wordpress.com)