There would be no museum if not for Sévérin Wunderman. A Belgian watchmaker who was forced to
seek asylum in the U.S. during WWII, Wunderman returned to make his fortune in the Swiss luxury
watchmaking industry. An early obsession with Cocteau (he bought the first of his works at 19 with his entire apprentice salary) evolved into a world-class collection. He resolved toward the end of his life to bring the bulk of his holdings to Menton, knowing that it was a hallowed Cocteau spot that was already home to a modest Cocteau cache. Eventually, all fell into place and a new museum was born: the Musée Jean Cocteau, housing 1800 works (990 by Cocteau) gifted by Wunderman.
All of the artist’s key periods are represented, from the first self-portraits of the 1910s up to the “Mediterranean” period towards the end of his life. There are drawings, prints, paintings, ceramics, tapestries, jewelry, books and ... and 172 photographs relating to Cocteau (including images by Germaine Krull, Berenice Abbott, Irving Penn, Philippe Halsmann and Lucien Clergue). One such photograph by Lucien Clergue depicts Jean Cocteau and Edouard Dermit with "le masque de mort" (1959), and is currently on view at WESTWOOD GALLERY, NYC
There are also 278 works by fellow artists (Picasso, Modigliani, Di Chirico and others), and 360 works related to Sarah Bernhardt, Cocteau’s “monstre sacré.”
