My latest oil painting. “A Marvelous Time” was inspired by the lyrics in Taylor Swift’s song, “The Last Great American Dynasty”. Her song tells the tale of the eccentric millionaire socialite, Rebekah Harkness who “had a marvelous time ruining everything.”
Rebekah Harkness
“Rebekah rode up on the afternoon train, it was sunny
Her saltbox house on the coast took her mind off St. Louis
Bill was the heir to the Standard Oil name, and money
And the town said “How did a middle class divorcée do it?””
–from The Last Great American Dynasty by Taylor Swift on her album Folklore
Rebekah Harkness inherited a fortune worth more than $250 million in today’s dollars when her husband, an heir to the Standard Oil fortune, died. Rebekah has been described as America’s Catherine de Medici because she spent most of her fortune supporting the arts and medicine.
The artists she supported included ballet dancers, choreographers, painters, flamenco dancers, sculptors, and even a yogi from India.
She was, to say the least, controversial. As a young woman, she wrote in her scrapbook that she delighted in setting out to ”do everything bad.” She put mineral oil in the punch at her sister’s debutante ball. She was tossed off an ocean liner for shouting obscenities, throwing dinner plates at an orchestra, and offending the sensibilities of her fellow passengers by swimming nude.
Holiday House
“The wedding was charming, if a little gauche
There’s only so far new money goes
They picked out a home and called it “Holiday House”
—The Last Great American Dynasty by Taylor Swift from her album Folklore
Holiday House is an 11,000 square foot mansion built on a bluff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. It was built in 1930 by Rebekah and her late husband William Harkness. Rebekah was fond of hosting outlandish parties and outdoor ballet recitals which frustrated her uptight neighbors. Rebekah turned her Rhode Island mansion into an artist colony where she partied with her bohemian friends from New York City, including the artists Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol, ballet dancers and choreographers including Robert Joffrey, Jerome Robbins, and Alvin Ailey, Jr., a yogi from India named B.K.S. Iyengar, the flamenco dancer José Greco, and her lover, Bobby Scevers who was 25 years younger than her.
Holiday House was purchased by Taylor Swift in 2013 for a reported purchase price of $17 million. Taylor has carried on Rebekah’s tradition of hosting outlandish parties and causing heartburn for her neighbors. Holiday House is now the site of Taylor Swift’s infamous Independence Day parties featuring celebrity friends and lavish decorations.
Rebekah’s “Friends from the City”
“Rebekah gave up on the Rhode Island set forever
Flew in all the Bitch Pack friends from the city
Filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names
And blew through the money on the boys and the ballet
And losing on card game bets with Dalí”
–from The Last Great American Dynasty by Taylor Swift on her album Folklore
Rebekah hired and partied with some of the most famous ballet choreographers and artists of the day. Featured in my painting are:
Robert Joffrey
Robert Joffrey was a dancer, choreographer, and co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet. Rebekah funded the Joffrey Ballet. In 1961, Harkness brought 20 dancers from the Robert Joffrey Company, additional soloists, choreographers, musicians and designers to a 12-week summer workshop at her Holiday House. Rebekah withdrew her financial support for the Joffrey Ballet reportedly because Joffrey refused to name the ballet company after her. She hired most of the Joffrey Ballet dancers and created her own dance company known as the Harkness Ballet.
Jerome Robbins
Jerome Robbins, a dancer, choreographer, and Broadway theater producer, is best known for the musical West Side Story which he conceived, choreographed, and directed. Rebekah provided financial support for Robbins.
Alvin Ailey, Jr.
Alvin Ailey, Jr. was an African-American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). Ailey’s choreographic masterpiece Revelations is considered one of the most popular and most performed ballets in the world. Rebekah Harkness gave Ailey his first commission to choreograph a ballet entitled “Ariadne”. The ballet was practiced and finalized at the Harkness Ballet’s workshop at Rebekah’s home in Watch Hill, RI. The Harkness Ballet began its world tour in Cannes in February of 1965 and presented the world premiere of Ailey’s Ariadne in Paris in March of 1965.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Dali was a Spanish artist who was best known for his Surrealist paintings. He was friends with Rebekah and often visited her at Holiday House. In 1965, Rebekah hired Dalí, to design a $250,000 ($2,129,802 in today’s dollars) funeral urn for her. The urn became known as the “Chalice of Life”. It was made of 18 karate yellow gold and featured a lapis lazuli base and butterflies encrusted with diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds.
After she died, Harkness’ ashes were placed in the Chalice of Life just as she requested. However, the urn was not big enough. Her daughter commented that “just a leg … or maybe half of her head, and an arm” fit in the urn. The remaining ashes were carried home by Harkness’ daughter in a Gristedes supermarket shopping bag. For some unknown reason, the lid of the urn was later left open which prompted a witness to exclaim, “Oh my God, she’s escaped.”
Like Taylor Swift, Salvador Dali was a cat lover. Dali was gifted a pet ocelot supposedly by a head of state in Columbia. He named the ocelot Babou and took it wherever he went, including a cruise on the SS France. When a fellow patron at a fancy New York restaurant expressed alarm at the sight of an ocelot on Dali’s table, Dali reassured her that it was a common house cat that he had painted in an op art design.
Andy Warhol
One of Rebekah’s friends from the city and a frequent guest at Holiday House was the artist Andy Warhol. Rebekah paid Warhol to run production design for her ballet company.
The Yogi
B.K.S. Iyengar was considered one of the foremost yoga teachers in the world. He was invited to travel from India to the United States by Rebekah Harkness to be her personal yoga instructor. Time Magazine later named him to be one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.
The Boyfriend
Rebekah’s final partner was Bobby Scevers. Bobby was tall, blond, handsome, and 25 years younger than Rebekah. Rebekah put Bobby to work as her onstage dance partner and her offstage companion.
The Flamenco Dancer
José Greco was an American flamenco dancer and choreographer who popularized Spanish flamenco dance in the movies and on stage in America. Rebekah hired Greco to be her personal flamenco instructor.
Champagne in the Pool
“[She] filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big names.”
Harkness was reported to have cleaned her pool with Dom Perignon champagne. Taylor’s song makes reference to Harkness filling the pool with champagne, so I included that image in my painting.
The Hunk
One of the many young dancers who received ballet training thanks to the financial support of Rebekah was Patrick Swayze. Swayze was raised in Houston, Texas. His mother was a dancer, choreographer, and ballet instructor. Patrick studied ballet and played football until a knee injury ended his football career. In 1972, Swayze received a Harkness Ballet Trainee scholarship and moved to New York to complete his ballet training at the Harkness Ballet School.
He was named by People magazine as its Sexiest Man Alive in 1991. During his career, Swayze received three Golden Globe Award nominations, for Dirty Dancing (1987), Ghost (1990), and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995).
The Green Dog
“And in a feud with her neighbor
She stole his dog and dyed it key lime green.”
The New York Times reported that Harkness got into a spat with a neighbor, stole the neighbor’s cat, and dyed it green. Taylor’s lyrics refer to Harkness as having dyed the neighbor’s “dog” key-lime green. So why did Taylor change the story from a green cat to a green dog? Some fans have speculated that Taylor is a cat lover and did not want to see her fans dying their cats green. Others have speculated that Taylor wanted to show how stories become distorted when passed down through gossip. I don’t know which theory, if either, is correct. I decided to include a green dog to keep my painting consistent with Taylor’s song.
Taylor Swift’s Poker Hand
Taylor Swift’s song mentions that Rebekah lost money in card games with Dali. I painted Rebekah with a sour look on her face after losing a card game to Dali. I gave Dali a hand of cards known as a Flush. When it came time to paint Taylor Swift, I gave her a Full House. That is not only a winning hand, it is also symbolic of Taylor’s annual July 4th parties at Holiday House when her many friends and guests gather together in a “full house” in Watch Hill.