The art museum that was built by an Belgian artist, AJ. Le Mayeur. The location of this museum is around 200 meters from the Bali Beach Hotel which now has changed become The Meru Hotel. The main attractiveness of this museum is Ni Polok’s painting, a local Balinese woman which became his own wife. Ni Polok once been a popular traditional Balinese dancer that born from the village of Kelandis in Denpasar.
The name of this place was taken by his own name, Andrien Jean Mayeur De Merpres, a painter that came from Belgian noble descent that born on 9th February 1880 at Ixelles, Brussel, in a way of the academic he beard with a title as an building engineer. Maybe, because of his descendants and his father’s talent that also once a portraitist, so that Le Mayeur preserved more in his world on the area of painting arts, even to sharpen his painting capacity he got into an act to be paint teacher at Ernest Blanc Garin, and finally he traveled around the world like going to Italy, France, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, Thailand, India, Cambodia, then traveled to the final destination which is Bali in 1932 by a ship through the harbor in Buleleng, and Singaraja was his first city that he visited.
He then continued his journey to Denpasar and rented a house at Banjar Kelandis in Denpasar, and it is here he begin to introduce himself with Ni Nyoman Pollok that born on 3rd March 1917, a beautiful Legong dancer that was still young, then she was made to be a model from her painting when they had the exhibition in Singapore in 1933. The exhibition that they organized was succeeded and Le Mayeur became popular. After three years had passed, specifically in 1935 they got married with the Balinese ceremony. Then, they built a house on the coastline of Sanur beach upon the land of 32 acres all at once with the painting room.
As a person that has architecture builder background, of course, this is enough to help Le Mayeur in designing his own, combined with Balinese ornament that was done by I Made Mas. The sales proceeds was used to move his house and the collection of his painting that was considered as the best art was being used as his own art collection. In 1956, the minister of education, the pedagogy and the civilization of Mr. Bahder Djohan, came to visit Le Mayeur’s house, they were impressed with the collection and the result of his own art painting, then asked Le Mayeur to make his house to be a museum, that idea was welcomed by Le Mayeur and kept on working to add and to improve the quality his painting.
As of his plan was just to stay for eight months only, but finally he lived for twenty-six years, even then they were separated because of Le Mayeur’s death on 18th July 1958 in his 78 age because of a serious ear cancer, after his dream came true, which was making their home as an art museum. Le Mayeur himself was buried in Ixelles, Elsene, Brussel. After the death of Le Mayeur, the museum, the house and its land was inherited to Ni Pollok, and the museum itself was managed by Ni Pollok. In his wealth era, it was just not the minister of Bahder Djohan had the opportunity to visit to Le Mayeur’s house, but also President Soekarno and the prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
The couples itself does not have progeny, because of Ni Pollok’s desire to have children was not permitted by her husband because she was a model to their own art painting, so that he was concerned about her body posture which will not be ideal again. Ni Pollok herself submitted what has become the inheritance of her husband and gave it to Indonesia government and dedicated as an museum. Whereas Ni Nyoman Pollok died on the 27th July 1985 on her 68th age.
That Balinese architecture building instantly being created as an museum, the physic condition has been quite old. The silent witness to the life of a husband and wife can still be seen until now. The painting theme from Andrien Jean Le Mayeur De Merpres stylized as an impressionist, mostly naked Balinese woman, and Ni Pollok herself was the main model, the other theme was the culture expression and the nature beauty. In this museum, there are 88 paintings that were divided into several kinds of art painting in accordance with the media that was in used like canvas media that was used to 28 paints, hardboard for 25 arts bagor for 22 projects, and even there were plywood media and also papers that signified at that time, it was difficult to find painting media to the majority of Japan and Indonesia.
Several pf the art paintings that was adequate popular is Pollok that made Ni Pollok as the single model, that painting was being painted in 1957 which was very beautiful and brave, then there was also a painting which was describing her picking the flowers around her house. The story that was in the process of making the painting, the model must be willing to sunbathe herself for many hours under the extreme sunshine, she was not allowed to move much and moaning, whereas the theme was of the maestro was much more shirtless. The result of the artworks of the painter was not also being painted with the iol paint even with the pencil besides using the canvas media also with the smooth straw met, plywood and papers, because at that time it was hard to find the materials from Belgium because it was in the era of Japanese colonialism.
Entering the museum of Le Mayeur, then you will be welcomed by the beautiful garden in the areal of the museum. A number of a legacy building from Le Mayeur was included with the ornament carving that was trapped on the building walls is still look clean, but it has already been an old and ancient building, several of private property of the painter was placed in the corner side of the room, it also looked like less awake and it seems that it needs to get a maintenance, some of the wood carving was putted as an insulator room. Those painting that was painted by the legendary maestro is displayed and putted inside a glass frame, so it is save from the touch of the visitors.
The furniture and the historical things from the legacy of Le Mayeur can still be found in the museum rooms, such as craved table, cupboard, bed, old mattress, ceramic, flower vase, statues, a jar and books owned by Le Mayeur. On the northern side of the museum building, they made a monument a pair of husband and wife statue Le Mayeur-Ni Pollok. Behind the museum or on the west side of the museum building, they built Pollok homestay and Lemayeur Beach Front Hotel.
The museum of Le Mayeur opens everyday starting from 08.00 AM and closes at 15.30 PM, except on Fridays which they only open from 08.30 AM to 12.30 PM only and officially closes in some Balinese big ceremonial. The entrance ticket for the domestics tourists is IDR 30.000 for adults and IDR 20,000 for children. Balinese local students with the amount IDR 10,000 for each person, overseas students for IDR 20,000. Local students IDR 5,000, students outside of Bali area for IDR 10,000. For foreigners, they have calculated the price which have been put into the system. They will charge the western visitors IDR 100,000 for adults and IDR 50,000 for children. The last pricelist that we are going to share is about the pre-wedding photoshoot session that you can plan for your wedding day. The price for the local people is IDR 1,000,000 and for occidental session price is IDR 2,000,000.
