Luma Arles is an arts center in
Arles, France
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
, featuring a 15,000 square meter tower building designed by the Canadian-American architect
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, , FAIA (; ; born ) is a Canadian-born American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become world-renowned attractions.
His works are considered ...
for the
LUMA Foundation
LUMA Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 2004 that is based out of Zurich, Switzerland. It supports the activities of independent contemporary artists and other pioneers working in the fields of art, photography, publishing, docu ...
. For the building Gehry took some of his inspiration from the
post-impressionist
Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction ag ...
painter
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2 ...
hoping to catch the light Dutch artist sought in the
South of France
Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi atlantique'', A ...
, specifically as in ''
Starry Night
''The Starry Night'' ( nl, De sterrennacht) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Dutch Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. Painted in June 1889, it depicts the view from the east-facing window of his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provenc ...
'' which was painted in Arles in
1889. The skin of the building features 11,000 angled reflective
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
panels.
The center is the brainchild of the Swiss art collector, art patron, documentary producer, impresario, and businesswoman
Maja Hoffmann
Maja Hoffmann (born 1956) is a Swiss art collector, art patron, documentary producer, impresario, and businesswoman. She is the founder and president of the LUMA Foundation.
Early life and education
Hoffmann is the granddaughter of the industri ...
who heads the foundation and collaborated with Gehrys on the tower's genesis.
The building includes exhibition spaces, workshops, a library, an auditorium with 150 seats, and a café.
The magazine Artnet reported that the total cost of the project is understood to be 150 million euros, but Maja Hoffmann has refused to comment on the figure.
See also
*
List of works by Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry is a Pritzker Prize-winning architect. His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions. His style is sometimes described as Deconstructivist or postmodern, although he has rejected the second term.
Com ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:LUMA Arles
Skyscrapers in France
2021 establishments in France
Buildings and structures completed in 2021
Buildings and structures in Arles
21st-century architecture in France
Frank Gehry buildings