These days, there’s no need to visit a museum to see otherworldly art when you’re on vacation. Many of the nation’s top hotels are dabbling in the illustrious world of collecting themselves. It’s not unusual for a boutique hotel to partner with a local gallery to display a rotating array of pieces or for a property to commission new works to unveil in its lobby or garden.
Here, we highlight eight properties that have such amazing art collections they could charge a separate fee to tour their halls.
Art and history collide at The Langham, Boston, a Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star hotel with a collection curated by Richmond International. Many of the 268 pieces reflect a connection to the building (the property was once the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) or the surrounding area’s history. During a 2021 renovation, the hotel worked with the nonprofit Copley Society of Art to commission 60 new pieces, such as Samuel Gareginyan’s abstract portrait John Singleton Copley, displayed in the lobby. Hotel guests are invited to take a self-guided tour featuring videos and recordings of the artists who created the works.
Other pieces include N.C. Wyeth’s Abraham Lincoln mural, initially commissioned by the bank; eight portraits of the bank’s former presidents by Debra Keirce; and a 7-foot hanging wire sculpture of the Lady Liberty coin head by artist Lyle London.
Given the Five-Star hotel’s location between two of the city’s famed museums, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of the African Diaspora, it makes sense that it takes its art collection seriously. Everywhere you look in the hotel, from the patio to the lobby, you’ll find brilliant pieces.
Safety is a giant safety pin sculpture by Giuseppe Palumbo in front of the hotel. It represents support and solidarity for the repressed and marginalized. In the reception area, a painting titled Solitude by Randy Hibberd depicts an abstracted city nestled within San Francisco. Gold accents mimic the golden sunlight reflecting off the Bay. In the dining room, a dreamy landscape titled Mountain Mist by Janie Rochfort reflects a unique watercolor style. Rich olives and lighter pinks capture the fluid colors of a San Francisco sunset.
Check out the artist-in-residence program at Sonoma’s MacArthur Place. In partnership with Uprise Art, the Four-Star resort welcomes artists to stay and hosts open studios where they create art and explain their processes to any interested parties. The first resident of 2024 was New York-based abstract painter Eddie Perrote (March 31 through April 5). Painter Mia Farrington (May 19 to 24) and graphic sculptor Dan Covert (July 7 to 12) are next to call the hotel their temporary homes.
Art created during the residency becomes a permanent part of the hotel’s collection. MacArthur Place also partners with Aerena Galleries, a wine country gallery representing an impressive roster of emerging and established artists. Sculptures from Aerena, like a giant corkscrew by David Tanych and bronze wolf by Sharon Loper, are placed throughout the property.
Philanthropist and entrepreneur Pleasant T. Rowland’s personal art collection is on display at this Upstate New York Four-Star charmer. Over 250 pieces hang throughout the guest rooms, hallways, restaurants and bathrooms, including works by Wayne Thiebaud, Helen Frankenthaler, David Hockney, Romare Bearden and Chuck Close. The entire collection is accessible thanks to an 80-page booklet showing each piece’s location on the campus.
Additionally, there are a number of pieces at the spa, from a series of florals, Big Blooms by Paul Lange, to a collage that makes up an Apple Tree by Jennifer Bartlett, that it feels like a modern museum.
Appropriately sitting in the Dallas Arts District, Forbes Travel Guide Recommended HALL Arts Hotel features the extensive contemporary art collection of owners Craig and Kathryn Hall. The hotel largely works with a clean, modern aesthetic, with white walls everywhere, making for a fantastic way to showcase the art.
Lava Thomas’ Resistance Reverb: Movements 1, a grouping of 600 pink tambourines, hangs in the lobby. It’s a gorgeous, glittering piece with fragments of political speeches excerpted from voices of women’s resistance spaced throughout, ranging from Sojourner Truth’s 1851 “Ain’t I a Woman” speech to Alicia Garza’s powerful “Black Lives Matter” message.
There are also paintings, more installations and photographs, some of which won the hotel’s photo competition. Learn more about the HALL Arts Hotel’s unique collection by participating in the exclusive art tour, taking place Thursday through Saturday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. with the property’s curator.
The Nines, A Luxury Collection Hotel
More than 400 works are on view at Portland’s The Nines, A Luxury Collection Hotel. Curated by Paige Powell, a former Andy Warhol confidante, the Forbes Travel Guide Recommended property’s collection has pieces from the likes of painter Chris Johanson, cartoonist John Callahan, filmmaker Gus Van Sant and emerging artist Nell Warren. A 35-foot hanging masterpiece, Bird Song by Melody Owen, is the grand stairwell chandelier. The work uses glass, LEDs and steel to illustrate the audio waves of bird songs native to the Pacific Northwest. It’s a breathtaking and original piece.
The Nines has also partnered with the Pacific Northwest College of Art to create abstract monotypes and silkscreen images throughout the guest rooms.
Santa Monica’s Shutters on the Beach is a Four-Star getaway that feels more like a luxury beach house than a traditional hotel. With that vibe, it boasts a 28-piece collection of contemporary art curated by fine art adviser Cynthia Greenwald. Works from such luminaries as Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein and David Hockney are on view in the lobby, hallways and other public spaces.
One of Greenwald’s recent acquisitions, Coca-Cola Girl 1 by New York Pop artist Alex Katz, is displayed near the sundry shop. It’s a painting of a blond in a white swimsuit against a red backdrop that sparks thoughts of a leisurely afternoon at the beach. Much of the artwork exudes this same carefreeness, mirroring the beauty of the Southern California coast.
Four Seasons Hotel Washington, D.C.
Significant works by Andy Warhol, Helen Frankenthaler, Fernando Botero and more are on view at this Five-Star gem in Georgetown. DTR Modern Galleries’ Jennie Buehler curated the 1,650-piece art collection, which includes modern acquisitions like Red Pears, a lush print by Northern Virginia-based painter Tanya Davis, and Paul Chojnowski’s Windows, a piece made by burning images into wood and paper.
Another head-turner in the lobby is Julia, Sara, Gary, Tiffany, Fabiana by Roni Stretch. The black and white portraits, covered in layers of opaque paint, converge to form images that are ghostly yet provocative.
