Art & Hotellerie is a column that Orlando devotes to art projects realised by hotels, around the world. Art is one of our favourite languages and hotels represent our identity as Orlando is the only magazine in the world structured as an imaginary hotel. When these two subjects come together, excellent projects are born, which we like to recount.

Collaborations between the worlds of hospitality and art are multiplying. Four Seasons and Assouline called on Spanish artist Ignasi Monreal to illustrate a book that tells the behind-the-scenes story of the brand synonymous with luxury hospitality

Every hotel is a world, and every mind is a universe. Leafing through the pages of Four Seasons: The Art of Hospitality (ed. Assouline Classics) we travel to some of the most beautiful hotels, around the five continents, and also in our minds, in our fantasies, thanks to the works of Ignasi Monreal. If the name rings a bell, you are likely to associate him with the Gucci campaigns of the Alessandro Michele years. His style is unmistakable: the classical background combines with a digital talent where the ancient blends with the contemporary. The result? Surreal works that allow the inner forces of man to emerge, even those of which we are not aware or able to explain.

Four Seasons: The Art of Hospitality recounts, through the artist’s touch, the extraordinariness of the Four Seasons hotels and resorts, namely the people and the details. The luxury hotel group, founded by Isadora Sharp in 1960 and now comprising 121 resort hotels and private residences, has always stood out for the professionalism (and discretion) of its staff, the true capital of the brand. We know, as customers, we are impressed by locations, furnishings and finishes, but what really makes the difference are the services that, in turn, are made by the people. The guest’s perception of luxury derives 99% from the service.

So, Four Seasons called Ignasi Monreal, who illustrated the essence of the brand through picturesque digital drawings. Leafing through the pages is like having access to behind the scenes, to the hotels, where the reasons for the success of these extraordinary addresses are often hidden. ‘The perfection you find here is taken for granted,’ said Monreal about his journey through eight of the most iconic Four Seasons properties in the world. ‘True luxury is in the things you don’t notice or see; I had first-hand experience of the magnificent Four Seasons properties, but it was the warmth of the people who welcomed me and whom I met that inspired the artworks collected in this book – unique pieces that ardently represent the power of human connection, the powerful meaning of each personal story.’

In short, this book is a celebration of the Four Seasons staff, through 115 drawings depicting an executive chef, a concierge, a sommelier, as well as a florist and an astronomer who work within the properties and contribute to the true identity of the brand. The images are flanked by quotations from general managers, chefs, sommeliers, concierges, gardeners and other employees who manage in a few words to express and convey the essence of the group, what it means to work there and what one can experience as a guest. While each destination is different, as is each hotel, it is true that all these properties share the same philosophy of hospitality.

Ignasi Monreal is Spanish but lives in London and has become internationally famous for creating Gucci’s Spring/Summer 2018 campaign, the first fully digital, and for which he was nominated for the 2018 Beazley Designs of the Year Award, a global celebration of creativity in design.

The extraordinary 212-page book Four Seasons: The Art of Hospitality, with a foreword by Pilar Guzmán, long-time traveller and renowned former Editor-in-Chief of Condé Nast Traveler, is on sale now at https://eu.assouline.com/products/four-seasons