Art in hotels, both to admire and to purchase, has become a strong focus in recent years. The Fife Arms in the Scottish Highlands has an impressive art collection including a giant Louise Bourgeois spider in the courtyard, 45 Park Lane in London has regularly changing exhibitions and art tours, Claridges has its own gallery with regularly changing shows, while La Residencia in Mallorca, Spain has 33 original pieces on display by Joan Miró. The luxurious Hotel Savoy, in Florence, is another hotel that takes art seriously by creating suites for artists to stay in and through hosting regular exhibitions in its public spaces.
Hotel Savoy, Florence with the Duomo in the backgound
Within ten minutes of all the important art venues in Florence including the Uffizi (packed with work by Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo and Caravaggio), the Accademia Gallery (housing Michelangelo’s famous sculpture David) and the Palazzo Strozzi (currently showing a blockbuster Anselm Kiefer exhibition), the Hotel Savoy has been quietly carving out its own art legacy. Their artist residency program is not only about showcasing artwork but also about creating immersive experiences for their guests, offering curated tours, artist talks, and interactive workshops that allow guests to engage with the creative process firsthand.
Annya Sand, Shambhavi at Hotel Savoy
The hotel is showing a female artist for the first time this spring. London-based painter Annya Sand joins a list of well known international male creatives hosted in its Artist Suites, including Maurizio Cattelan, Anish Kapoor, Y.Kami, Maccapani Missoni, Santiago Calatrava and David La Chapelle, who each also had exhibitions at the hotel or at nearby art institutions.
Abstract Perspectives: Annya Sand’s Tribute To Women, open to hotel guests and visitors, runs until 20 May 2024 and offers an immersive journey into the mystical realms of the artist’s work and her creative process. Her large abstract paintings can be seen throughout the hotel’s public spaces. As a third-generation artist, Annya Sand carries forward the legacies of her father and grandfather before her. Her works are held in international museums, private collections and government institutions, including the Houses of Parliament in London and the UN headquarters in New York for the project “Colors of the Planet in Andorra”, supported by UNESCO. Annya is also cofounder of WAAW (Women Artists’ Art Week) an initiative that encourages art galleries and art institutions to simultaneously showcase exclusively female artists on their own premises for at least one week.
Annya Sand, Invigorated on show at Hotel Savoy, Florence
Annya enjoys making shapes come together before her and watching them evolve and her technique is element based. She tends to use her bare hands when working with oils and acrylics, as she needs to feel the painting in order to truly adjust its texture. She coats thin layers on top of one another which allows for the original underlayer to seep through and show itself. She also uses tapping techniques with flat brushes to generate realistic landscapes. When creating, especially when dealing with the abstract, she remains obsessed with the outcome as she’s a perfectionist which usually involves revisiting a completed work months later to make final adjustments.
Detail, Goddess (Birth of Aphrodite: Union of Zeus and Dione) at Hotel Savoy
As the exhibition title suggests, each work is female focused. Goddess depicts Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, showing the goddess’s vanity and self-admiration. Deep meditation was part of the process in creating Shambhavi which refers to a yogic technique that involves focusing the gaze at the eyebrow center. It activates the third eye chakra, associated with intuition and higher consciousness. There is a hidden sign of the third eye and protection in this painting. Truth or Dare is about the ever changing body of a woman from youth to old age, social pressures and female vanity. Summer Solstice was created in a very dynamic manner over 21 days of deep meditation where the artist had visions of Kali, the Hindu goddess of time, change, and destruction. Kali is often depicted with a fierce demeanor but she represents both the creative and destructive aspects of the divine feminine energy. Serenity is dedicated to Mother Earth and is intended to symbolise a nurturing and life-giving force, embodying fertility, abundance, and sustainability. It represents the interconnectedness of all living beings and the environment, emphasising the importance of respect for nature. Symbolism is a painting created over four years and holds layers of symbolism of what Annya saw around her. The Places You Go was inspired by a popular children’s book written by Dr. Seuss. Oh, the Places You’ll Go! The book’s simple yet profound message of how to face life resonates with how adaptable and flexible many of Annya’s female muses are. This painting captures the importance of self-belief, determination and the realisation that success and happiness come from within. Invigorated 1,2 are two paintings that reference the delicate feel of lace. When creating them Annya wanted to open up a conversation celebrating female creativity and show how women have used art and fashion to reframe their gendering in art, as both subject and image-maker.
Abstract Perspectives: Annya Sand’s Tribute To Women runs until 20 May 2024 at Hotel Savoy, Piazza Della Repubblica 7, Florence, Italy.
Double rooms at Hotel Savoy, Florence start from 720 euros/night in low season.
