St. Moritz's grandest old hotel is getting a new lease of life — and its art collection is coming along for the ride. The Kulm Hotel, perched at 1,865 metres above the Engadin valley, has been part of Alpine high society for more than 170 years. Now, with a multi-million-pound transformation underway under a masterplan by Foster + Partners, the hotel has brought in art consultancy Artiq to manage, preserve and rethink its collection for the next era.
The first job was simple but eye-opening: find out exactly what the hotel owns. Artiq photographed, catalogued and assessed every piece, and the audit turned up some serious names. The collection includes works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Gary Hume, early video installations, and a marble sculpture that ties together skiing, peace and the surrounding mountain scenery — a fitting brief for a hotel that essentially invented Alpine winter tourism.
What makes this project interesting is the philosophy behind it. Rather than treating the art as a fixed museum piece, Artiq and the Kulm team want the collection to stay live. Works will be moved, rehung and reinterpreted over time, so a corner you've walked past for years might look different on your next stay. The idea is that art becomes another layer of placemaking — something to notice beyond the views, the interiors and the architecture.
For returning guests, that's the pitch: familiar rooms with something new hiding in them. For first-timers, it means the hotel reads as a portrait of its own history and setting rather than a generic luxury interior. Yves Dewaegenaere, the Kulm Group's brand and commercial director, put it plainly — as the hotel transforms, the collection matters both for protecting heritage and for shaping what guests actually experience.
Why should a traveller care? Because hotel art is usually wallpaper. Here it's being treated as part of the stay itself, which is a quiet but real shift in how high-end Alpine hotels think about their spaces. It also signals what to expect once the Foster + Partners renovation completes: a property that leans into its history instead of erasing it. If you're planning a St. Moritz trip and torn between properties, the Kulm is staking its claim as the one with a story — and a Basquiat — behind its walls.
The renovation itself is ongoing as part of the wider Kulm Masterplan, so it's worth checking what's open and what's a building site before booking. Either way, keep an eye on this one: when a 170-year-old grand dame starts rearranging its treasures, the result is worth seeing.
Story via Hotel Designs.
