The influence of French heritage, and in particular the Château de Chenonceau, which belonged to his family, was also decisive. Terry was deeply impressed by Philibert Delorme’s design, by the series of interconnected galleries, the majestic proportions and the neo-classical ornamentation. This place nurtured his taste for a French art style inspired by Italy, imbued with symmetry, refinement and scholarly references.

Emilio Terry is self-taught in his artistic practice. The war prevented him from studying at art school, which kept him at a distance from the academic eclecticism of the time. He therefore immersed himself in the great Italian treatises on architecture by Palladio and Vignola. In this way, he developed a deeply personal philosophy, fuelled by an admiration for the visionary, utopian and grandiose architecture of the late 18th century.

His designs span all areas of the decorative arts: furniture, objects, carpets, houses and gardens. Among his earliest notable works is the ‘Monogramme’ sideboard (1928), made of cast aluminium, which already demonstrates his taste for powerful and symbolic forms. He also designed a ‘rock-like’ console table (1926) for the Château de Clavary, inspired by the holy water fonts in Pigalle at Saint-Sulpice, as well as a Restoration-style table inlaid with precious woods, which remained at the Château de Rochecotte for many years.

In the 1930s, a period of upheaval, Terry pursued a unique path: he proposed an architectural style that drew inspiration from nature – rocks, shells, drapery – not as ornamentation, but as the very material from which the walls of a dwelling were constructed. For him, function arose from beauty: architecture must convey a ‘truly human’ message, blending poetry with formal rigour. But it was also during this decade that he began a pivotal collaboration with Jean-Michel Frank, the master of minimalist luxury. Through this fruitful collaboration, Emilio Terry worked alongside Alberto Giacometti, Christian Bérard and Paul Rodocanachi, and contributed to the design of iconic pieces of furniture, such as a neoclassical bench and a wooden console table, created for Frank’s boutique, which opened in 1935.

In 1933, his drawings were exhibited at the Jacques Bonjean gallery, a venue frequented by de Chirico and Dalí. In 1936, some of them were included in the famous exhibition ‘Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism’ at MoMA in New York, confirming his place within a visionary artistic movement, halfway between classical utopia and poetic surrealism.

He also designed refined interiors, such as that of the Basque house Calaoutça for Princess Bibesco, in collaboration with Jean Hugo, a descendant of Victor Hugo. But he also conceived ideal architectural forms, such as his ‘spiral house’, a model of a double-helix dwelling that reflects a philosophy in which architecture is no longer merely a framework, but a dream that can be lived in.

Rediscovered relatively late in life, Emilio Terry is now regarded as a cult figure in the world of dreamlike and erudite set design, at the crossroads of classicism, utopia and surrealism.