Compared to the blinding light of the beach that is only a dozen meters away, the interior of Jean André Le Mayeur's house is a darkness that almost forces you to feel the walls to move forward. From the outside, the cabin is like many others that occupy the first sea line north of Sanur. But the interior is a treasure chest.
Adrien Jean Le Mayeur arrived in Bali in the 1930s following in the wake of many other international artists and, like Walter Spies or Javier Covarrubias before him, he became fascinated by the stillness of life on this Indonesian island, which he still remembers. The Dutch colonizers had not left. The simplicity of the fishermen, the sensuality of the local music, the beauty of the young women were magnets that left Le Mayeur glued to Bali. And Sanur specifically.
Le Mayeur's house in Sanur is a rarity. Because today the works of great painters are usually exhibited in powerful European or American museums, or live hidden from the eyes of mortals locked in multimillionaires' safes. However, many of the originals that Le Mayeur painted during his stay in Bali are hanging on the fragile green walls of his cabin.
When Le Mayeur settled in Indonesia, he had already traveled a lot to different continents, looking for inspiration and his personal style. Hence, some of the paintings that are now in Sanur's house are from that time and belong to his most impressionistic period, reflecting scenes from India, the South Pacific, Africa or the Mediterranean countries.
From there, Le Mayeur became fascinated by Bali. And by the Balinese Ni Polok, a classic legong dancer who was only 15 years old when she married him. In the Indian Ocean islands such a union was not a rarity, but in Europe it caused a great scandal when it became known. Nor was one of Le Mayeur's muses, and appears in several of the paintings.
The truth is that, between the poor lighting – there are no lamps, only natural light penetrates through the slits whose function is to let in the sea breeze but not the stifling tropical sun – and the basic transparent plastic protection panels, plus the deterioration of almost a century, the works begin to show a certain fatigue. It is necessary to take into account the regime of high temperatures, torrential seasonal rains and saline environment that dominates the area to exclaim why this pictorial group is not cared for more strictly. However, Le Mayeur and Ni Polok – who lived in the house until his death in 1985 – would surely have been pleased.
Even today, Sanur is a quiet alternative to the more outlandish resorts of southern Bali. In the town there is a stone column that is considered the oldest object on the island. A battle has been fought in which the natives emerge victorious. Archaeologists estimate it to be a millennium old.
Otherwise, in this town that stretches along a white sand coastline, the usual entertainment is kite flying, sailing in classic outrigger boats, regular gamelan concerts combined with legong dancing and enjoying the fishing catches. daily. Sanur is just eight kilometers east of Denpasar, the Balinese capital. It can be reached in just over 20 minutes, avoiding the traditional swarm of motorcycles.
