Gerard & Kelly rediscover Eileen Gray’s Modernist Legacy

At the edge of Europe, where France ends and meets the Mediterranean, a queer Irish woman with no formal architectural training built a house on the jagged shores of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. She drew plans for the interior space only after designing the furnishings for within and made a radical proposition for living.

Eileen Gray designed E-1027 in the bay of Roquebrune-Cap Martin  in 1929 for intimate retreats with the architect and critic Jean Badovici—who was fifteen years her junior. The name, like the code for a shipping vessel, is derived from the interlinking of their initials: E for Eileen, 10 for the J of Jean, 2 for the B of Badovici, 7 for the G of Gray. Her name embraces his. Today, E-1027 is one of France’s three national monuments of the modern era, and the only one built by a woman.

E for Eileen, the third in a series of films we have made at emblematic architectural sites in France, is a speculative fiction that contributes to the restoration of Eileen Gray as a key figure of modernism.

— Gerard & Kelly

E for Eileen features in the exhibition “Gerard & Kelly: Bardo,” on view from January 17 to March 8, 2025, at Marian Goodman Gallery, Paris. The film will also be broadcast on French national public television (France 2) on February 9, 2025 and available for streaming on France.tv.