Gerald and Sara Murphy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerald and Sara Murphy were wealthy, expatriate Americans who moved to the French Riviera in the early 20th century and who, with their generous hospitality and flair for parties, created a vibrant social circle, particularly in the 1920s, that included a great number of artists and writers of the Lost Generation.
One of their first homes together--before moving to France--was 50 West 11th St. in New York. After their expatriate period, the Murphys spent many years entertaining at The Dunes, a large estate built by Sara's father in The Hamptons.
Prior to their arrival on the Riviera, the region was experiencing a period when the fashionable merely wintered there, abandoning the region during the high summer months. However, the activities of the Murphys added fuel to the same renaissance in arts and letters as did the excitement of Paris, especially among the cafés of Montparnasse. In 1923 the Murphys convinced the Hotel du Cap to stay open for the summer so that they might entertain their friends, sparking a new era for the French Riviera as a summer haven. The Murphys eventually purchased a villa in Cap d'Antibes and named it Villa America; they resided there for many years.
Not only did the Murphys help make the Riviera fashionable again, some have said they invented it. When the Murphys arrived on the Riviera, lying on the beach merely to enjoy the sun was not a common activity. Occasionally, someone would go swimming, but the joys of being at the beach just for sun were still unknown at the time. The Murphys, with their long forays and picnics at La Garoupe, introduced sunbathing on the beach as a fashionable activity.
Among the many artists and writers who passed through the Murphys lives were Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Dorothy Parker, John Dos Passos, John O'Hara, and many more. Fitzgerald modeled the characters of Dick and Nicole Diver after the Murphys in his novel Tender Is the Night; although the Divers possessed the glamor of the Murphys, the tragedy of the Divers marriage more accurately reflected Fitzgerald's own marriage to his wife Zelda, and not that of the Murphys. It is possible that the two protagonists of The Garden of Eden by Ernest Hemingway are also based upon this couple.
In addition to entertaining artists, Gerald took up painting himself for a short time, and his work was well-received in European art circles. Following their return from France and the untimely death of two of their sons, Gerald took over his father's company and gave up painting.
Amanda Vaill documented their lives in the 1995 book Everybody Was So Young, as Calvin Tomkins had done in 1971 with Living Well Is the Best Revenge. Both accounts are balanced and kind, quite unlike their portrayals in the memoirs and fictitious works by their many friends, including Fitzgerald and Hemingway.
