DINING
JGC: So, it became a requirement, after that, to have a Roger Mühl in the restaurant?
Exterior of of Les Pres d’Eugenie
Le Moulin de Mougins, near Cannes, where Chef Roger Vergé was a friend. Especially going to the south of France with Mougins, Cannes, Nice, all those villages are very artistic, including Mougins. Mougins was a village of artists and also collectors. It was the village of Picasso. Picasso was living at villa Notre-Dame-de-Vie before he passed away [in April 1973]. I went to work at Mougins in November ‘74, so almost a year and a half after... There at the Moulin, the waiters were telling me stories about Picasso and his time there. Picasso had made a painting for Roger Vergé to put in the bar at the Moulin. There were all these artists like César, [Jean-Michel] Folon, [Jean-Claude] Farhi and Arman, and other artists of the Ecole de Nice, who were hyper-creative and very resourceful. I remember César would take copper and take all the old cafetière - the coffee pots – to create sculptures. The garden was full of sculptures from many of those artists, and the restaurant, too. The Mühl Movement There was an artist in Mougins called Roger Mühl [19292008] and he was friends with all the greatest chefs in France. He did the portraits of all the great chefs, but he also lived in Mougins, so he was also painting Provence. Roger Vergé, and also [Chef Paul] Haeberlin in Alsace [at the Auberge de L’Ill], because Roger Mühl was from Alsace originally, they were the two who started the “Mühl movement.” And then in every Relais & Châteaux, or sometimes threestar [Michelin] restaurants, they all had [works by] Roger Mühl on the wall.
PARK_Spring22_ChefDaniel_.indd 156
DB: Exactly, it was a fraternité. Roger [Mühl] was a wonderful man. He would come to the Moulin de Mougins all the time, as he was very close friends with Roger Vergé. You could feel the passion of Roger Vergé through the art, and their friendship as well, and the kind of complicity and collaboration between all of them. Every one of the artists LOVED Roger’s cooking and food and there was always an opportunity to get together and party together. And then from Moulin de Mougins, I went to live in Copenhagen; that’s where I started to buy my first pieces of art. I arrived in Copenhagen, I was 21, 22 and I was doing the galleries, and choosing some nice, interesting things. In Copenhagen, there were a lot of good artists, nothing at the international scale, but at least some good artists. I still have these paintings in my home in France - a lot of landscapes, a little naïf... Chef Michel Guérard @ Les Prés d’Eugénie After this, I returned to the South of France to work with Michel Guérard, Eugénie-Les-Bains, and there the art was much more curated. At Guérard, there were paintings that were unusual shapes, made to be in the restaurant; they are still there now. JGC: This is the restaurant and inn, Les Prés d’Eugénie, in Southwestern France. Is that right? DB: Yes, that to me was the quintessential luxury, to be able to have this kind of artwork custom made for the restaurant. After Michel Guérard, I was doing a lot of photography. I took a lot of pictures of artwork there. You know at the time I could not afford it, but at least I was inspired. Le Cirque, Andy Warhol, Daniel, Les Pleiades & Leo Castelli JGC: Tell us about your time in New York. You arrived in 1982? DB: I came to New York and I started to meet some artists. I arrived on the Upper East Side and the galleries were there. So, I started to collect art at the time, or at least buy art that I could afford. I also met all kinds of artists. To fast forward - the first ten years - my time [as a chef ] at The
3/9/22 11:47 PM
