THE RECLUSIVE LAST DAYS OF CHRISTOPHE de MENIL

An heiress, her daughter, and the betrayal that broke them.

- By ANNIE ARMSTRONG

FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS, the arts patron Christophe de Menil had the same event on her Hamptons calendar: the Watermill Center’s annual summer benefit.

The center’s founder, Robert Wilson, was one of her closest friends, and she had effectively underwritten his career after seeing his experimental play A Letter for Queen Victoria on Broadway in 1975, sending him a check for $25,000 with a note that read, “Thank you for this wonderful work. I do not want mention of my name.”

When Wilson opened his space in 1992 in Water Mill, on the South Fork of Long Island, Christophe was among its earliest supporters. She returned every year to raise money and help Wilson set up the marquee exhibit and the performances taking place all over the grounds. In 2017, Christophe, then 84, was there as early as 2 p.m. on a hot day in late July to hang the show, changing for dinner into a gauzy gown of her own design that was decorated with the leaflike cutouts she used in her clothing and jewelry.

At the dinner, which was held underneath sprawling white tents, Christophe linked arms with Alina Morini, a Transylvanian immigrant who had been her friend and companion for some 15 years, and worked the room, greeting Isabelle Huppert and Laurie Anderson. Also in attendance was Martine Malle, maternal grandmother of Christophe’s great-granddaughter Secret Midnight Magic Nico Snow, the child of her grandson Dash Snow and the model Jade Berreau.

As night began to fall, a photographer snapped a picture of Christophe beaming alongside Malle and Morini. The shock of the white Eraserhead hair that for years had distinguished her as a regal eccentric among so many tasteful ladies on the society circuit was intact, and she seemed happy and calm. It was the last time she was photographed in public looking like her old self.