If there is any corner of the world less in need of a new architectural icon, it's Menton, a lovely seaside hill town situated 2.5 miles from Italy on the French Riviera. With its gardens, villas, and picturesque historic center, Menton retains the charms that once attracted luminaries such as Aubrey Beardsley, William Butler Yeats, and the French poet, artist, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau (1889–1963). But when municipal officials began to court the American art collector Séverin Wunderman, and offered to build a permanent home for his collection of 990 works by the Surrealist Cocteau, the wheels were set in motion to create a building that, in the words of Deputy Mayor Jean-Claude Guibal, would give Menton “the status of a cultural destination in its own right, where bold projects ennoble the spirit of the site and reinforce its authenticity.”
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