Architecture

Hotels in France With Frescoes All Over

Under the creative impulse of a new guard of artists and painters, the frescoes reinvest the decorations of hotels and restaurants in vogue, offering them an unprecedented aesthetic dimension. Monumental works deployed on facades, ceilings studded with variegated colours and walls adorned with charismatic silhouettes, these imposing works have left museums, ancient temples and famous chapels to mark the spirits and enrich the artistic identity of the addresses of the moment. From Saint-Tropez to Paris, via Marseille and Hossegor, a look back at this new ornamental phenomenon that Jean Cocteau and his peers would probably not deny. 

The Southway Studio Mural at the Tuba Hotel

It was a tidal wave in the Mediterranean. Her name? Snorkel. Entirely redesigned by Marseille architect Marion Mailaender, this former diving school set on a rock whose feet are bathed in the water of Les Goudes has become the most attractive hot spot of the summer season. In addition to its breathtaking view, the place features a large figurative fresco. Historian, curator and artist Emmanuelle Luciani called on her Southway Studio collective to create “La Vénus & ses Boys”. An almost anachronistic decor that remains magnetic. 

Elsa Blondeaux’s fresco in the Orgueil restaurant

As the decor of Orgueil suggests, the new table led by chef Eloi Spinnler, the architectural duo Delphine Versace and Virginie Friedmann summons a marked taste for the combination of materials and the promotion of exceptional know-how, a keen sense of dialogue between influences and eras. If the ground is treated in terrazzo and they are dressed in wooden panelling, the ceilings are lacquered or animated by the ornamental frescoes of the artist Elsa Blondeaux. Through these symbolist bestiary illustrations, pride dares the figuration on the ceiling.

Caroline Gauguery’s fresco at the Hôtel des Lices

Guided by the golden age of the French Riviera, interior designer David Granata and his agency Oreka Architecture have given a new setting to the Hôtel des Lices in Saint-Tropez. Terracotta floors, wide-striped sunbeds, sunny colours and natural materials, a bar covered in geometric ceramics and a hand-painted fresco by Saint-Tropez artist Caroline Gauguery come together in this revamped Provençal house. A few steps from the port, the umbrella pines and the sea dress the walls of the reception in a head-to-head with precision.

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