Local Art Meets Global Audience

Sofitel Legend Santa Clara: Cartagena, Colombia

Fernando Botero

Recognized as The Best Suite in Colombia in 2017, the Fernando Botero suite is a luxurious homage to the figurative painter and sculptor. Every corner of the suite is adorned with Botero's distinctive work, characterized by its voluptuous style and exaggerated form. His art, which celebrates the natural shape of the human body, also extends to the animals, fruits, and objects, creating an opulent experience for guests. 

Olga de Amaral

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, the renowned artist with intricate technique incorporates fiber, paint, gesso, and precious metals into textile structures with sculpture-like characteristics. Amaral's majestic pieces are authentic and heavily rely on artisanal techniques that explore Colombian culture. The Cartagena hotel features her work on the fifth floor, overlooking the Caribbean Sea, with two pieces representing the Sun and the Moon. The artist was honored as an "Artist Visionary" by the Museum of Art and Design in New York, and her work has been displayed in cities including Kyoto, Paris, and Washington D.C.

Hotel Casa Lucia: Buenos Aires, Argentina

Cristian Mohaded

Founded in 2008, the small design studio based in Argentina strives to create a hybrid design practice in which tradition and innovation can coexist. The Argentine artist and designer who primarily focuses on furniture, lighting, and installations, worked with Hotel Casa Lucia to produce a larger-than-life lighting installation for its grand lobby. The award-winning designer also produced the bedside lamps for every room. Today, he spends his time between Buenos Aires and Milan, and his work is featured in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and at the Musée Les Arts Décoratifs in Paris. 

Maria Cristina Codern

The Casa Lucia lobby, designed initially as a public street, still resonates with the history and tradition of Argentina. To further enhance this cultural connection, the hotel commissioned local artist Maria Cristina Codern to create a textile piece of natural fibers that adorns the lobby wall. This installation, a celebration of Argentinian culture, features the 'Guarda Pampa' pattern, a design deeply rooted in the historical significance of the Argentinian gauchos. The traditional pampa weaves enrich the lobby's cultural significance with their geometrical designs of crosses, rhombuses, and double triangles.

Rosewood Villa Magna: Madrid, Spain

Manolo Valdés

With political satire emphasizing most of his work, the Valencia-born artist is known for his drawings, sculptures, and mixed media pieces dominated by Art Informel and Expressionism. After the Rosewood Villa Magna partnered with Opera Gallery, the hotel acquired five original pieces by the artist, making it an exclusive collection for the hotel. One of those pieces, titled Cabeza con vidriera en Circulos, was made exclusively for the hotel. 

Alejandra Pombo

The Rosewood Villa Magna underwent a complete refurbishment and redesign, opening again in 2021, transforming the historic landmark into a modern and chic escape. Madrid-based interior designer, Alejandra Pombo, brought to life the stunning restaurant, Amós, operated by Michelin-starred chef Jesús Sanchez. Pombo crafted a space that is not only elevated but also exudes comfort, inspired by the history and tradition of the Spanish capital, specifically, the taberna madrileña, a style of restaurant particular to the old town of Madrid.

Hacienda Altagracia, Auberge Resorts Collection: San Jose, Costa Rica

Guillermo Porras

Born on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica, Porras's art is a vibrant expression of his sense of place. The landscape and colors in his pieces are a direct reflection of the Caribbean region and its people. It is meant to reflect a Caribbean dream, with crystal clear waters to the cacao seeds, and the fishermen fill his art with color, bringing a unique vibrancy to any room. This orange-hued piece, carefully chosen to match the bamboo ceilings and terracotta accents at the Picoteo Restaurant, harmonizes with the ambiance.

Sara Morales

The mixed media artist, primarily using acrylic and watercolor, finds fascination within the animal world, specifically the portrayal of horses and bulls. Morales uses bursts of primary colors to produce boldness, making her art the striking focal point of any room. Hacienda Altagracia chose a red-hued piece to strike the Grano Restaurant + Terrace, which is the culinary heart of the resort.

Casa Polanco: Mexico City, Mexico

Ricardo Mazal

The Mexican painter, born in 1950, is one of the country's most prominent contemporary artists and is widely known for his abstract oil paintings. The library room at Casa Polanco is home to a 3-piece triptych by Mazal that was previously presented in New York and then at a museum in Mexico City. Inspired by birds in migration, the result of this piece is an elegant middle canvas painted in dark violet hues, with two lighter side pieces that create a soft atmosphere. Today, Mazal lives between Mexico City, Santa Fe, and New York.

Ricardo Pinto

Pinto's work, deeply influenced by his architectural training, is a rich intersection of architectural representation, geometry, and perspective. His work at Casa Polanco, inspired by the poetry of Octavio Paz, a Mexican poet and diplomat who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1990. One of Paz's poems deconstructs Mexican identity as a multi-layered concept that has been under construction since the country's beginning. In this art piece, Pinto takes over and portrays that same message by representing an image that still feels "under construction."

Tierra Patagonia, Torres de Paine, Chile

Claudia Peña

The artist from Santiago, Chile is inspired by the divine and mythological. Taking inspiration from pre-Columbian motifs and architecture, she created a massive map to adorn the Tierra Patagonia dining room. The silent and minimalist black and white map is a  depiction of the Tehuelche tribe, an indigenous tribe native to Eastern Patagonia who formerly inhabited the plains from the Strait of Magellan to the Negro River.

Matilde Huidobro

After completing photography and sculpture studies, Huidobro's work, which is steeped in ancestry, history, and three-dimensional displays, is a tribute to the past. This diorama, a project undertaken with the guidance of historians, features old maps printed on linen, sea monsters from ancient engravings, mini sculptures, and intricate embroidery. Described by the artist as a cabinet of curiosities, the piece follows the Magellan expedition, a 16th-century Spanish voyage led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Today, you can see Huidobro's work in Chile, South Africa, Ecuador, France, and Argentina.