Thankfully, some of the world’s finest hotels are on-board with infusing art into nearly every facet of their being, from thoughtfully placed sculptures and installations across lobbies to museum-caliber portraits and paintings inside intimate hotel rooms. Here are some of the most unrivaled art hotels to visit across the world.
If you’re an art aficionado, you seek to surround yourself with awe-inspiring creations on the regular – and while you’re on vacation certainly should be no exception.
Le Meurice, Paris, France
Like the city of lights itself, Dorchester Collection’s Le Meurice is a living work of art. It exists in the original palace hotel in the very heart of historic Paris on rue de Rivoli and has a longstanding presence in the art world. It once served as the location for Pablo Picasso’s wedding dinner, as well as Salvador Dali’s Parisian home for over three decades.
And in 2016, the hotel went through a recent renovation by designers Philippe Starck and Ara Starck who looked to Dali for inspiration. Classic elements like stately columns, marble-topped tables and copper-rimmed mirrors balanced by original Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs and armchairs with portraits of 18th-century personalities imprinted on their backs fill the premises.
The Nines, Portland, Oregon
Set in the creative capital of the Northwest, The Nines is a dynamic member of Portland’s art scene. The iconic hotel features a bold collection of commissioned works exclusively created by local artists. The collection, curated by Paige Powell, a former Warhol confidante, is made up of over 400 pieces of art, including sculptures, paintings, and custom installations, which are carefully placed throughout the premises, in the atrium, restaurant, library, lobby and guest rooms.
One of the most striking installations is Melody Owen’s grand stairwell chandelier called Bird Song, which uses glass, LEDs, and steel to create a 35-foot hanging structure illustrating the audio waves of bird songs from the Pacific Northwest.
Conservatorium, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
For a true, all-encompassing and immersive art experience, book a stay in the Van Gogh Suites at the Conservatorium. In advance of the highly anticipated “Van Gogh Japan” exhibit that will be unveiled at the neighboring Van Gogh Museum this spring and summer, the luxury hotel in Amsterdam will be fully decorating two junior suites with exclusive Van Gogh merchandise and quotes by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter himself. The package includes direct access to the exhibit, ‘Van Gogh Japan’-inspired afternoon tea in the Brasserie, a writing quill and ink souvenir, and more.
Hotel Lungarno, Florence, Italy
Owned by the fashion-famous Ferragamo family, this art-centric hotel is smack-dab in the city center of Florence, Italy, located just steps from the Ponte Vecchio. It’s home to one of the largest collections of privately-owned 20th Century art, with over 450 pieces including Picasso, Cocteau, Bueno and many other Italian artists. In June of 2017, the hotel went through a six-month renovation that brought new prestige to the art pieces.
Positioned throughout the various common areas and floors based on personal and artistic characteristics, the stories of the drawings are told through five different narrative path that follow the lives and work of impressive international artists who characterized the Italian art movement in the 20th Century.
Conrad New York, New York, NY
If being surrounded by modern and contemporary art is an essential piece of your travel preferences, Conrad New York will complement your trip to the Big Apple just fine. With over 2,000 works of art throughout its public spaces and 463 luxury guest suites, featuring bold, site-specific commissions such as Sol LeWitt’s extraordinary Loopy Doopy in the Atrium and Pat Steir’s Topsy Turvy at the Gallery Ballroom, to the more intimate, specially commissioned lithographs in the guest suites by Mary Heilmann, Elizabeth Peyton, and Sara Sosnowy, the Conrad New York exhibits a remarkably diverse collection by some of the world’s most prominent contemporary artists.
The Curtain, London, England
This new hotel and members club blazed into East London’s Shoreditch last summer, bringing along with it a breadth of new creative energy to the area. The Curtain is home to 120 rustic-industrial-styled guest rooms and suites, each boasting sleek interiors fused with bursts of local Shoreditch character and bespoke artwork by cult music photography legend of the 1970’s Mick Rock and British artist, Pete Hawkins.
Students from the London College of Fashion were further enlisted to create bespoke designs on the inside of wardrobes in the guest rooms and worked closely with Mick Rock to curate the art. Outside of the rooms, guests can further enjoy iconic Mick Rock artwork including his infamous “Madonna 1980” shot displayed in The Curtain’s ‘CBGB inspired’ Live Performance space and “Dude ‘72. ” Additional artwork includes one by Banksy from the owner’s personal collection.
Elma Arts Complex Luxury Hotel, Zikhron Ya’aqov, Israel
Located just a little over 8 miles from the ancient ruins of Caesarea on Israel’s Mediterranean Coast is this cultural center of a hotel designed by famed architect Yaakov Rechter. He was awarded the Israel Prize for Architecture for his creation of the arts-infused dramatic structure that is now a 95-room luxury hotel with a fully-fledged creative arts center – an immersive experience of Israeli culture. Paintings and sculptures are delicately placed throughout the hotel in addition to art that is displayed within three galleries.
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel, Waimea, Hawaii
The Big Island of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea Beach Hotel is home to the priceless museum-quality Pacific and Asian art collection of hundreds of pieces gathered by Laurance S. Rockefeller and Davis Allen exclusively for property itself back in 1965. The nearly 1,000-piece collection graces every hallway and corner you turn, with the most artistically treasured piece in the collection being a pink granite Buddha, sculpted in 12th-century India.
Another prized piece of art housed in the hotel is a 700-year-old sculpture of the head of Buddha which was unearthed by workmen building a dam in northern Thailand, found on display in the hotel’s Beachfront Wing. Other highlights include two mythical bronze guardian dogs from a Thai temple at the breezeway entrance to the hotel’s Beachfront wing, a fearsome-looking Garuda (half-man and half-bird) and Hawaii’s largest standing collection of handmade Hawaiian quilts commissioned specifically by Mr. Rockefeller for placement in the hotel.