In 1968, MoMA’s newly hired curator of painting and sculpture William Rubin (1927-2006) leveled a plateau on an unhewn hill above the village of Plan-de-la-Tour, in southern France. Here, he built a domain in the heart of the landscape of Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso – the giants of 20th century Modernism.

He named his hillside world of calm and beauty “l'Oubradou”, the Provençal word for "studio." Throughout his lifelong career as a renowned art historian, critic and curator, Bill Rubin wrote the majority of his prolific scholarly publications while sitting at his favorite perch overlooking the valley and village he and his many visitors came to know and to love.