The Museu Carmen Thyssen Andorra and Grandvalira inaugurated the Hotel Iglú last Friday. It is a different kind of ephemeral lodging that has been decorated by the Museum, transforming paintings of the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza into ice sculptures. The chosen ones have been the “Mata Mua” by Paul Gauguin, “Two New York Bridges” by Lowell Nesbitt, “Sitting women” by Juan Gris, “Watermill in Gennep” by Vincent Van Gogh, “The hut of Trouville” by Claude Monet, “Jamaican blue bird” by Mercedes Lasarte and “Ten-dollar bill” by Nicholas Alden Brooks.
Every single sculptural piece has a close link with liquid or water, as happens with the Monet-inspired sculpture, the Van Gogh’s, the Nesbitt’s, Gauguin’s, Lasarte’s or Gris’s ones -Even if the last one does not refer directly to water thematically, the canvas spent a long time hanging in a humid and dark larder. The painting by Alden Brooks has been chosen for the semantic link of the bill with the economic “liquidity”. The artists were Itziar Badenas, Joan Gris, Eve Ariza and Álex Fernández. They reinterpreted the masterpieces, bringing them to a new life on the Iglú walls, showing a new and personal view upon each artistic production. That way, “Sitting Woman” turns into “The shamanic hut” a high embossment in which we can appreciate shamanic masks illuminated with warm lights, “Watermill in Gennep” becomes “Windows” that show us the interior of the mill. The “The hut of Trouville” it is reinterpreted as “Hygienic Homes”, where we can observe houses floating on the water.
Photography: Josep Otero Acevedo.
