Tired of the shanty houses lined up around Santa Barbara, California, a high-class neighborhood, the 70-year-old artist decided to paint his colorful rainbow. The aim is to brighten people’s day, according to the Daily Mail, but unfortunately, not all residents support his vision.
“I don’t understand this obsession with beige and brown. I just don’t know why it’s a color combination that is so popular in the world,” Gottlieb said. “I am interested in color. When I see something bright or colorful, I want it.”
So Gottlieb spent two months – and spent $ 5,000 – to make his house painted in nine bright colors. Everything from the roof and chimney to the terrace and stairs are covered with shades of blue, green, yellow, red, purple and pink.
After finishing, Gottlieb felt he had transformed his four-room house into a “work of art.”
Since then it has been dubbed the “rainbow house,” “the house of color,” and “the house of Easter.” Many people walk past it just to see the bright spectacle, Gottlieb reported.
Jane Gottlieb and her husband David Obst moved into the house in 1997, when it was cream and brown.Mercury Press & Media
“When people come who have never visited before, they immediately smile. They are immediately happy because they have never seen anything like this. They said, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing,’ “said Gottlieb. “I hear the same thing all the time: ‘You can’t be happy in this house.'”
Some of Gottlieb’s neighbors, on the other hand, were not happy.
“Nobody in this neighborhood really likes it because they all have these beige Mediterranean houses,” he explained, “and I have this bright and fantastic work of art.”
But it has not been deterred famous artist – whose prints have been exhibited all over the world – from spending cash to keeping the oasis alive. “The outside must be repainted every few years because it fades,” he said. “Sometimes, a year goes by, and I don’t paint, but it costs about $ 5,000 a year.”
The interior of Gottlieb’s house is equally lively.Mercury Press & Media
There’s more: The interior is just as interesting. The living room is furnished with a purple sofa and a green fireplace, while the Gottlieb studio features retro blue and checkered patterns throughout the room. The kitchen, bathroom and shelves on the shelves displaying Murano glass and other antiques add to the riot of color, according to a house tour published in Curbed.
“I don’t even know how many colors there are in it,” he said. “My favorite room is my studio or purple living room because it faces the pool and the sea. We have decorated it with colorful Italian furniture and my artwork. “
One of Gottlieb’s favorite spaces is his purple living room (right), while the shelves are filled with colorful tchotchkes.Mercury Press & Media
Of course, the house didn’t look like this when Gottlieb, her husband, David Obst, and their dogs moved 23 years ago. It was (surprise, surprise) cream and chocolate. After renovation, Gottlieb decided to start adding color – and never stopped, inside and out.
