Art Safari

To give credit where credit is due, the idea of hosting exhibitions in the hotel’s gardens came from none other than Fernando Botero. The Colombian artist known for his voluptuous female figures was a guest at the Baur au Lac when Gigi Kracht invited him for breakfast. Breakfast turned into lunch (almost into dinner), and the rest, as they say, is history. So, who better to take us on a leisurely stroll to some key spots on Zurich’s art map than a member of the International Director’s Council of the Guggenheim Museum in New York? The Baur au Lac lends itself as the perfect starting point. Although this year’s 20th-anniversary incarnation of Art in the Park featuring sculptures by French artist Camille Henrot has just wrapped up, this most sumptuous of hotels hosts an impressive permanent collection of its own. Coincidentally, this is also where I first met Gigi over two decades ago. Our first lunch also (almost) turned into dinner, and we would regularly meet for champagne-infused lun-cheons sitting at her favourite corner table of the hotel’s former Rive Gauche restaurant. Today, striking Martin Brudnizki interiors have entirely transformed the space and Baur’s, as it is now known, features a skilfully assembled selection of art. ‘Over 30 original works by a colourful mixture of artists have been handpicked to adorn these walls,’ Gigi tells me as we reminisce over the old days while sipping on a glass of rosé champagne.

A Louise Bourgeois here, a Rashid Johnson there and a key photographic work by Annie Leibowitz thrown in for good measure. While guests are delighted by the decidedly contemporary décor and modern vibe of the restaurant and bar, those with a keen eye for art will spot a congruous selection of art treasures surrounding them. Of course, the legendary hotel’s love affair with art doesn’t stop there. A show-stopping Nicolas Party landscape greets guests in the newly renovated entrance hall. ‘It was specially commissioned for this space,’ Gigi tells me as we embark on our art tour of Zurich.

On our way to Rämistrasse, we take a lunch break at the iconic Kronenhalle. This bastion of old-world dining serves traditional Swiss fare while the walls are adorned with works by Picasso, Miró, Chagall, Rodin and others, some of whom have actually dined here. Suitably satisfied and with our batteries fully recharged, we continue our cultural pilgrimage to Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland’s largest art museum. Along the way, a cluster of galleries has set up shop on Rämi-strasse, bordering the city’s old town not far from where the Dada Movement was born. We swiftly stop by at May 36, yet another high-profile gallery in the vicinity of Kunsthaus, here since 1996. A few steps further along and we reach the eminent Ziegler Gallery. Founded in 1959, it is an art institution in Zurich and prides itself on being one of the oldest galleries in town, spanning over 60 years. The owners’ artistic intuition guides the programming of emerging and established artists, resulting in a salient mix of exciting discoveries and new perspectives throughout the gallery’s exhibition programme.

Impossible to miss and mesmerising to look at, Zurich’s latest landmark building, the new wing of the Kunsthaus, comes courtesy of architect David Chipperfield. The core building, designed by architect Karl Moser in 1910, has seen three extensions by additions on its own plot. The structures, which have evolved over decades, represent different architectural attitudes and exhibition concepts while documenting the Kunst-haus’s changing role in the city’s public life. Chipperfield’s design consistently carries this idea forward. It offers space for art from 1960 onwards from its own collection and the Fondation Hubert Looser. The addition of the long-term loan of the remarkable Emil Bührle Collection presents works from the Middle Ages to Early Modern art, with outstanding key works of French Impressionist painting at its core. The private collection of Werner and Gabriele Merzbacher sets an intermittent accent as a celebration of colour, while other areas of the museum host thematic and monographic temporary exhibitions, performative art, installations and audio-visual works. The current Niki de Saint Phalle show, a wide-ranging retrospective including some 100 pieces, can be visited until early January, followed by Dream Gardens – Giacometti – Dalí in April, set to be a blockbuster exhibition.

After much legwork, it’s time to wrap up our little art safari, and we decide to take the Dolderbahn up to The Dolder Grand for an aperitivo with views over Zurich. Curated by Galerie Gmurzynska, around 100 works of art are dotted around the grand hotel’s public spaces. From Warhol’s ‘Big Retrospective Painting’ to works by Damien Hirst, Keith Haring and Takashi Murakami – guests can indulge in a veritable treasure hunt with a little help from an iPad guide. As we look over Zurich and its glistening lake, I ask Gigi about the meeting that started it all. The breakfast with Botero that turned into lunch and almost turned into dinner. ‘When I write about people,’ she says, ‘they become friends. That day twenty years ago, Fernando told me, ‘Gigi, you’re the only one with a space like this in the centre of town. You should do something during Art Basel, and I’ll lend you my Fat Lady,” she remembers. Over the years, George Condo, Robert Indiana, Yves Klein, Allen Jones and many other renowned artists had their works exhibited at Art in the Park. As Zurich continues to showcase art across the city – public, private, unexpected but always stimulating – it comes as no surprise that the art season around Art Basel has been slightly extended, or rather, brought forward, as collectors and art enthusiasts regularly descend on the city to discover some of its many cultural highlights. From Gigi’s Art in the Park to Kunsthaus’s blockbuster shows and numerous first-rate exhibitions hosted across Zurich’s colourful mix of galleries, there is enough choice to please every art lover’s heart.

by Gigi Kracht & S. Hottinger-Behmer