Inspired by the Weimar Bauhaus, the Amsterdam publicist and artist Hendricus Theodorus Wijdeveld, together with the Berlin architect Erich Mendelsohn, planned a European art school on the Côte d'Azur in the early 1930s. Their curriculum was designed to be broad-ranging: in addition to painting, sculpture, and architecture, there were departments for interior design, stage art, typography, ceramics, and textile design, as well as courses in music, dance, photography, and film. However, with its name, the Académie Européenne "Méditerranée" (AEM) consciously distanced itself from the workshop ideal of its German counterpart. It embraced pan-European ideas while also referencing the classical heritage of the Mediterranean region. The inclusion of painter Amédée Ozenfant as the third director integrated specific aspects of Purism that were significant in both literary and historical contexts.