Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic The train to Gstaad, Switzerland is a picturesque climb through wooded gorges and rolling, chalet-studded valleys. Stepping off, the first store sign that meets your eye — before the bakeries, cheesemongers and chichi shops — is that of the art gallery, Almine Rech. Close by is Patricia Low Contemporary, which opened a new space in 2021 and has shown work by Antony Gormley, Jonathan Meese and Gilbert & George. Further up the mountain, Hauser & Wirth has a base in Vieux Chalet, once the Swiss home of German photographer Gunther Sachs. This February, Gstaad hosted its first art fair, with galleries including White Cube and Perrotin. It’s not the only ski resort with a world-class art programme. Hauser & Wirth also has a gallery in St Moritz (this winter showing work by Jean-Michel Basquiat), alongside Galerie Karsten Greve and Vito Schnabel. In 2006, the Basel gallery von Bartha opened in nearby S-chanf, in the Engadin valley. Tornabuoni Art has been in Crans-Montana for some years. In the US, New-York based Marianne Boesky Gallery for many years had a summer season in Aspen — where the Aspen Art Museum’s programme attracts an international crowd.There is a clear draw for galleries to open in the moneyed enclaves of a ski resort. According to a 2023 report by Savills, prices in prime ski resorts remain 20 per cent above 2021 levels and 41 per cent above pre-pandemic prices, while Knight Frank’s Ski Property Report 2024 reported an average 4.4 per cent annual growth in luxury ski chalet prices across the 24 resorts tracked, driven by high levels of demand, lack of stock, and a scramble for property in high altitude resorts. But it is also a two-way play. “Art and culture play an important role in the lives of residents and visitors to ski resorts,” says Maxime Dubus, managing director of SPG One, an affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate. Ski resorts are a way to connect with collectors in a less frenetic setting than a major city or whirlwind art fairArt and the mountains have long been intertwined. “St Moritz has been an enclave of creativity for centuries and a long-standing destination for artists,” says James Koch, partner and executive director of the Hauser & Wirth programme in Switzerland. The Engadin valley was home to the Giacometti family and Alpine painter Giovanni Segantini, and has inspired artists including Gerhard Richter and Joseph Beuys. The arrival of international galleries was the logical next step. The Zurich gallerist Bruno Bischofberger, dealer in Warhol and Basquiat, was the first to open a commercial space in the Engadin in the 1960s, and since then, there has been a proliferation of galleries, museums and private foundations, such as Muzeum Susch, which opened in 2019 and focuses on promoting the work of female artists.In the US, Harley Baldwin spotted the potential decades ago. In 1994 he invited Richard Edwards, then a British lawyer and collector, to set up a gallery in Aspen with him. “At first people were not used to buying in a resort but, when they realised we were showing fresh work and that we were dealing directly with artists, they were impressed,” says Edwards. Early on Baldwin Gallery’s clientele were from Texas and Michigan, people “who were not necessarily given first position by New York galleries,” says Edwards. Now, he says, it has broadened. The communities “appreciate what we do.” This winter, Baldwin Gallery will show works by the playful Austrian sculptor Erwin Wurm.Since then, the town’s cultural offering has grown, “brought in by events at the Aspen Institute, the Aspen Art Museum, and the music programmes,” says Joshua Landis, associate broker with Christie’s International Real Estate Aspen Snowmass, an Aspen resident for 30 years. “And that has attracted people from the Upper West Side of New York.” Property prices here, according to Landis, have “more than doubled” since 2020. International commercial galleries have followed suit: besides Marianne Boesky Gallery, White Cube, Lehmann Maupin and Carpenters Workshop Gallery have had summer pop-ups. Galleries report that ski resorts are a way to connect with collectors in a less frenetic setting than a major city or whirlwind art fair. “The real difference between having a gallery in a city like Paris, London or Milan is time,” Michele Casamonti, founder of Tornabuoni Art Crans-Montana explains. Collectors have the leisure to address art “as a passion rather than an investment. In holiday resorts, conversations dilate and we are able to develop personal relationships with collectors in a way that doesn’t happen as easily in other art world situations.”“A significant proportion of our customers in resorts like Gstaad and Crans-Montana are serious art collectors,” says Dubus. “Buyers are looking not only for properties but also a rich cultural lifestyle.” Gagosian opened a permanent space in Gstaad in 2022 after some years of testing the waters with pop-ups. Recent exhibitions include steel sculptures by New York-based Carol Bove. In December it will show new works by Houston-based Rick Lowe. Stefan von Bartha, who recently closed his S-chanf project space but still participates in Nomad St Moritz, the art and design fair, says that “very intimate, in-depth shows and dialogues” are encouraged by the remote location. “Some of our dearest collectors live in the Engadin,” he says. Alongside editions in Capri, Venice and Monaco, Nomad fair seeks to cater for “a select audience looking for an experience which is different to the one typically found at large-scale fairs”.It’s this approach that brought Thomas D Gommes, a writer and former corporate lawyer, here. “Gstaad has all these cultural events all year around,” he says. “The only thing it lacked was a literary festival.” As of 2021 that’s no longer an issue, as Gommes has set up the World of Words festival, which takes place every summer. “The Gstaad community — year-round residents, second-home owners, and visitors — are intellectually and creatively curious; bringing authors from all over the world to Gstaad was a natural fit,” Gommes says. “The benefits of the serious international art galleries are symbiotic; the galleries benefit from exposure to an affluent audience during the high seasons, and the village benefits from exposure to what’s going on in the broader, international art world.”“People who live in mountain resorts want to buy art. They want to collect,” says Layla Khosrovani, an agent with Cardis Sotheby’s International Realty Gstaad. With houses to decorate and tastes cultivated around the world, blue-chip galleries are an appealing presence. This is certainly the view of Loïc Le Gaillard, Carpenters Workshop Gallery co-founder: “There is an array of savvy collectors in Aspen,” he says. “People have big houses, they have taste. They come out of curiosity, but there is a desire to buy.” Find out about our latest stories first — follow @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
