A Bigger Canvas

Across Europe, art-focused hotels are infusing museum-worthy beauty into every stay.

- ELIZABETH CANTRELL

CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE LEFT The pool at Calipo, a hotel in the Alentejo region of Portugal; a wire cabinet by Muller Van Severen, with ceramics by Eleni Vernadaki, at Ammos, a hotel on the Greek island of Crete; a sculpture by Angela Bulloch, in one of the palace terrace suites at MACAM, a museum and hotel in Lisbon; a staircase at Casa Newton, a hotel in Tuscany, Italy.

IN THE LAST FEW YEARS, some of the most talked-about hotels have been conceived by visionaries with no hospitality experience. There are remote lodges opened by textile entrepreneurs (Norden Camp, on the Tibetan plateau) and residence-style hotels opened by lawyers (Villa Fayoum in Egypt). In Europe, the trend has been led by art collectors and dealers.

One of the newest iterations is the 13-room Chesa Marchetta