|
|
The World's Most Famous Sofas
Sofas are the unsung heroes of popular culture. They've accommodated global superstars, conked out presidents and royal floozies, all without praise or a mention in the credits. It just doesn't seem fair. The Sofasandsectionals.com team think that it's time to appreciate some of history's greatest sofas.
Oprah
Oprah Winfrey is the world's most influential woman according to CNN and Time Magazine. Nobody seems to have given her famous sofa an accolade like this but we're sure that it ranks among the most powerful furniture in the world, having hosted the great and good from Liberace to Elizabeth Taylor, not to mention Barack Obama and a host of former presidents.
Where is it now?
Still in the Oprah studio and being broadcasted into homes all over the world.
Dali
Dali is probably more famous for what he did to clocks than what he did to sofas. The Persistence of Memory depicts pocket watches melting over a barren landscape, alluding to Camembert cheese melting in hot weather. He also made a surrealist sofa modelled on Mae West's lips. Dali was fascinated by Mae West and created the piece with and for Edward James, a rich British patron of the surrealist scene.
Where is it now?
Five were made, with four of them in private ownership. One is on display in Brighton, England.
The Simpsons
Do you know the name of your mayor? Your police chief? Your police chief's son? Chances are, you know Springfield better than you know your own town. I bet you've seen a fair bit of a certain yellow family's sofa as well. The famous couch has appeared at the start of nearly five hundred episodes of The Simpsons and is a part of our national identity.
Where is it now?
Still being lounged upon at Evergreen Terrace.
Friends
If anything defined '90s America, it was the sofa in Central Perk. The entire lives of a certain group of friends played out over its clumsy shape and tatty velour. This stalwart thespian was there when Chandler broke up with Janice, when Ross and Rachel nearly had their first kiss and when Rachel told the newlywed Ross that she still loved him. The Central Perk sofa is one of the most dependable and prominent characters in Friends.
Where is it now?
At the Warner Bros lot in LA.
The Casting Couch
This abstract entity has launched a thousand careers and will launch a thousand more. The secretive annals of deepest darkest Hollywood harbour tales of corruption and bribery, exposed by female stars from Megan Fox to Gwyneth Paltrow. We've included it in the list because even though it doesn't exist, its influence has created household names and global superstars.
Where is it now?
The bottom rung of the job ladder in every desirable industry.
Frank Zappa
Not one but two tracks called Sofa appear on the album One Size Fits All by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention. Indeed Sofa 1 and Sofa 2 appear on different sides (these were the days of vinyl, after all) and include German outbursts. Despite the fact that Zappa was an outspoken opponent of illegal drugs, the lyrics to Sofa 2 conclude "Yeah ha ha ay, yah ha, yeah my sofa, yeah ha hay." This was a man who loved his sofa.
Where is it now?
Who knows. Sofasandsectionals.com hope that its current owners love it as much as Frank did.
Boucher
Probably the most famous sofa-related painting, Boucher's depiction of a resting maiden is probably a portrait of Marie-Louise O'Murphy. One of Louis XV's favourite mistresses, she survived the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror and lived to the age of 77. She appears to be resting on a typical eighteenth century chaise longue.
Where is it now?
The Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne.
Clinton
An affair with the intern, a smudge of DNA in the wrong place and some judicious phone tapping resulted in one of the biggest political scandals of the twentieth century. After it emerged that Clinton had enjoyed the company of Miss Lewinsky, where did he end up? That's right - on the sofa. Hilary kicked him out of bed when he admitted what he'd done, and he spent the next few weeks sleeping on an old couch while she contemplated divorcing him.
Where is it now?
To be honest, we sadly have no idea. Sofasandsectionals.com doesn't have the resources to track down ex-presidential furniture.
Freud
Freud's theories might not be in fashion any more, but the legacy of his sofa lives on. The psychiatrist's couch is a cliche derived from Freud's original rug-adorned sofa, which was the birthplace of psychoanalysis and paved the way for a century of conjecture.
Where is it now?
The Freud Museum, London, England.
| Chairs | Sofas & Loveseats | Sectionals |
|---|
| | | | Top Quality Seating For Your Home |
|---|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Follow us on