Museum of the World ② The Future Rising Above the Horizon: Luma Arles, France
Arles, a small town in the south of France, once remembered for its ancient Roman amphitheatre and the ‘Café de la Nuit Jaune’ beloved by Van Gogh, has now been reborn as the very heart of contemporary art, alongside the silvery tower crafted by the architectural master Frank Gehry.
Founder Maja Hoffmann: A Genetic Calling for Art
Maja Hoffmann, founder of Luma Arles, is not merely a wealthy individual, but the heir to a family with a long tradition of art patronage. She is the great-granddaughter of the founder of the global pharmaceutical company ‘F. Hoffmann-La Roche’. For decades, the Roche family has amassed immense wealth centred in Basel, Switzerland, whilst simultaneously providing such robust patronage that they have come to be known as the ‘invisible hand’ of the European art world.
Her father, Lukas Hoffmann, was a co-founder of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and dedicated his life to environmental conservation and the arts. Maya spent her childhood in the Camargue wetlands near Arles, where she experienced first-hand the value of nature and art coexisting. Having thrown herself into the art world in earnest from the 1980s onwards, she honed her discernment whilst serving on the boards of leading international art institutions such as the Tate and the Kunsthalle Basel.
In 2004, she launched a major personal project by establishing the Luma Foundation, named after her children, Lucas and Marina.
A renaissance born on a forgotten railway site
For Maja Hoffmann, Arles is her ‘second home’. She has invested over 150 million euros (approximately 200 billion won) of her own money to breathe new life into this ancient city in decline.
The ‘Parc des Ateliers’ site, a 19th-century railway depot, had long been an eyesore, left to fall into disrepair. Maja purchased the site and commissioned Frank Gehry to design it; her aim was not merely to construct buildings, but to restructure the city’s economic fabric itself, centring it on culture and the arts.
She emphasises that this place “should become an ecosystem where artists do not merely exhibit their work, but conduct research, create and engage with the local community on site”.
The rocky hills of Arles and Van Gogh’s brushstrokes
‘The Tower’, standing at the heart of the complex, epitomises Frank Gehry’s architectural aesthetic.
The façade, clad in 11,000 stainless steel panels, changes colour moment by moment as it reacts to Arles’ intense sunlight. This is the result of an architectural reinterpretation of the ‘movement of light’ and ‘rough brushstrokes’ that Vincent van Gogh was so obsessed with whilst here. Furthermore, ‘The Drum’—a circular glass structure at the base of the tower—was inspired by Arles’ Roman amphitheatre, whilst the tower’s jagged silhouette resembles the Nymphes rock formation near Arles.
The Sustainability of ‘Atelier Luma’
The true value of Luma Arles shines not in the splendour of the tower’s interior, but in the research laboratory known as ‘Atelier Luma’. Here, materials such as Camargue salt, seaweed and sunflower stalks are studied and transformed into building materials and furniture.
This is the result of Maya Hoffman’s ‘futuristic patronage’, which combines the legacy of her father—an environmental activist—with art. Furthermore, as readers witness the process by which the interior and furnishings of the exhibition spaces are crafted from local waste or natural resources, they come to realise that true ‘luxury’ lies in coexistence with nature.
A Contemporary Perspective: ‘The Core of Creativity’
Today, Luma Arles continues to foster experimental collaborations between masters of contemporary art and emerging artists in exhibition spaces created by the conversion of seven large industrial buildings within the complex. Through this venue, Maya Hoffman is effectively transforming Arles into a ‘think tank’ that attracts creative talent from around the world, taking it beyond its status as the ‘Bilbao of the South of France’.
If you’re curious about the future of French contemporary art, why not enjoy a cup of coffee in the ‘Drum’ café inside the tower whilst basking in the Arles sunshine, followed by a stroll through the park designed by Belgian landscape architect Bas Smets?
[Travel Info]
- Location: 35 Avenue Victor Hugo, 13200 Arles, France
- Architecture: Frank Gehry, Annabelle Selldorf
- Features: An arts complex founded by Maya Hoffman, heiress to the global pharmaceutical group ‘Roche’
