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The air at Sanur Beach in Bali tastes salty, with a refreshing breeze amid the humid heat. Restaurants and seaside cafes line the street, along with stalls selling clothes, accessories and anything else imaginable to tourists. But the scene here must have looked somewhat different 80 years ago.

In 1932, Belgian painter Adrien Jean Le Mayeur first set foot on the island that would become both his home and the source of his inspiration, especially after meeting his future wife, Ni Pollok, a Balinese temple dancer.

The couple lived in a spacious bungalow that was later turned into a museum and which stands today among the many sights at Sanur Beach. The home gives insight into the lives of two people who were so different, made such an unlikely couple and yet stayed together for the rest of their married lives.

Le Mayeur reportedly first saw Ni Pollok during one of her performances, where he asked whether she would model for his paintings. After spending time together and growing fond of each other, the painter and his muse decided to marry— much to the suspicion of Ni Pollok’s family and friends, who noticed Le Mayeur was not only foreign, but also 37 years her senior.

Though Ni Pollok’s affection for the painter was obvious, she may have had another reason to marry Le Mayeur, according to French art critic and journalist Jean Couteau, a longtime observer of Balinese culture who wrote an essay about the couple’s relationship.

“It is much more probable that, owing to her long relationship with Le Mayeur — as a model or otherwise — Pollok was in fact marginalized by the members of her own society,” Couteau wrote.

“She was perceived as having chosen the side of the ‘white men,’ ” he added. “Feeling ostracized, the best for her was indeed to shift allegiance and to opt for the old foreigner who promised her economic security.”

Setting up house in the Sanur bungalow, Ni Pollok and her husband gradually received more visitors over the years, as foreign tourists flocked to the “uncanny mix of aristocratic behavior, exotic surroundings, colonial privileges and women’s beauty,” Coteau said.

With a trip to the museum, it’s clear why their house was such a popular meeting point: It radiates tranquility, with its location right off the beach, five rooms, a lush garden and two open pavilions, including one with an ocean view.

Le Mayeur reportedly spent many mornings out on that pavilion, looking for inspiration beneath the sun as he enjoyed the rhythm of the waves.

Upon entering the main building, a former living room served as a space to welcome visiting guests. A carved wooden door leads to a smaller room, where family members and close friends would sleep when they spent the night, and also where Le Mayeur kept his books.

Behind this smaller guest room, Le Mayeur had a painting studio that, thanks to its large windows, was brighter than the rest of house. It was here in this studio where Ni Pollok spent hours modeling for her husband, although after he passed away in 1958, she used the space as an additional dining room for guests.

Beyond the former studio are the bedroom and bathroom, where Ni Pollok continued to sleep at night even after the bungalow was turned into a museum, allowing visitors to enter during the day.

She never remarried, and after passing away in 1985 she was cremated at Sanur Beach, not far from her house. To this day, the museum caretaker says, her remaining relatives visit once a year in her honor. They pray and bring offerings to an ocean god at a shrine the couple built to keep their house safe from floods.

Much of the original furniture remains in the house, as do about 80 paintings by Le Mayeur and valuable Balinese artifacts that he collected. Surrounded by these souvenirs, it is easy to imagine the life that he and his muse led together.

The one downside to the museum is that some parts of the house are no longer in good condition, suffering from seeming neglect and poor maintenance.

Whether the wear and tear resulted from insufficient funds or other reasons is not clear, but it is a great shame because the house is part of a great legacy — a physical reminder of Le Mayeur’s life and Bali’s cultural history, which he had worked so hard to preserve.