Baroness Ephrussi

Very early on, Béatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild, wife of Maurice Ephrussi, a wealthy banker devoted her considerable fortune to the arts, immersing herself into the building of sumptuous residences and tirelessly amassing a priceless art and antique furniture collection.

An insatiable traveller

An insatiable traveller, she was fired by a passionate love of nature and all manifestations of artistic genius, mobilising an army of experts and art dealers when building her villa on Cap Ferrat. 

When Béatrice Ephrussi died in 1934 aged 75, she bequeathed her palatial Cap Ferrat residence and its extensive art collections to the Académie des Beaux Arts, a section of the Institut de France. 
  

Baronness and pink color

The slightly fanciful Baroness Ephrussi chose pink as the dominant colour scheme for the Villa and liked to invite her friends to receptions that sought to recreate the splendour of Queen Marie-Antoinette’s court at Versailles, and transforming her residence into an exotic ark filled with her favourite animal companions including monkeys, budgerigars, mongooses, gazelles, antelopes, and flamingos.