Hotels Offer Chance to Follow Footsteps of Famous Painters

Sure, everyone’s heard of a gallery hotel, where fine works of art hang on every wall. But what about hotels re-creating famous works of art, where you can step into the world of your favorite painters and sculptors?

Walk in the footsteps of Claude Monet in Plymouth, Massachusetts, at Mirbeau, where the gardens and ponds are inspired by the Impressionist’s home in Giverny. Many a wedding photo has been shot on the Monet Lawn, in the Giverny Salon and at the Monet Bridge, where a charming footbridge evokes a scene straight out of the French countryside — all without the international airfare. The aesthetic continues inside, where rooms are all decorated with Gallic flair, padded regal headboards, fireplaces, marble bathrooms and more.

Home to the Rijksmuseum and the Dutch Masters, Amsterdam surely has no shortage of artistic treasures — as its plethora of fun hotels attest to. The Hilton has several suites dedicated to painters including Jan Cremer, Van Gogh and Toon Hermans. The Van Gogh room was envisioned by graphic designer Irma Boom with two of his masterpieces in mind: “The Bedroom” and “Starry Night,” the latter on a huge wall mural. Hotel Van Gogh in the heart of the museum district is just steps away from three hotels and features large-scale paintings from the genius, along with wallpaper featuring his most famous works.

In nearby Delft, where Vermeer was born, there’s a hotel in his honor — Hotel Johannes Vermeer — where a huge mural of his most famous painting, “The Girl With a Pearl Earring”, hangs in a central hallway and reading area.

Although Van Gogh is most certainly Dutch and not Russian, St. Petersburg’s gotten into the master’s spirit as well at Hotel Grifon. His “Almond Blossom” painting inspired the décor in a suite here.

Hotel Le Vincent has … you guessed it … interiors evoking the post-Impressionist. Versions of “Starry Night” fill the first floor of this downtown Quebec City favorite.

Further afield in Lisbon, Portugal, seven rooms at ArtBeat have seven themes, one for each of the world’s most famous artists, Van Gogh, Picasso and Warhol among them.