LVH journal takes a look at how artists play with the unconventional medium of the pool to expand the experience of their art. From Nicolas Party's tile mirage pool on the Amalfi, to Bernar Venet's serene garden piscine, eleven artists designed pools that redefine our usual summer swim.
James Turrell, Stone Sky, Napa Valley, California
Stone Sky, 2005, by James Turrell features a view that changes with the seasons, time of day, and weather. A pavilion leads to an infinity pool set against the Napa Valley landscape and the Memento Mori vineyard. What sets Stone Sky apart is its unique access: you swim underwater to enter. Upon emerging, you'll find yourself in a reflective chamber, where an 8 x 8 square oculus at the center reveals the sky.
Nicolas Party, Positano, Italy
It’s a pool party. Swiss artist Nicolas Party designs his first pool for Le Sirenuse hotel on the Amalfi coast. Party's inaugural mosaic piece blends blue shades reminiscent of the Mediterranean using tiles crafted by Bisazza, a premier Italian glass manufacturer. Known for his paintings of overlapping mountainscapes, Party aimed to evoke a sense of land, water, and sky merging for the observer.
David Hockney, Private Pool, Los Angeles
David Hockney had his fascination with swimming pools. The pool, painted by Hockney himself, is reoccuring in his work. This pool was at his house, however he also painted a pool at Los Angeles hotel The Roosevelt. The very French “Dufy - esque” marks are a motif he learned to appreciate during his time in Paris. The marks caricature sunlight water. California swimming pools began to appear in his work after his first West Coast trip. His iconic works, such as "A Bigger Splash," "The Splash," "A Little Splash," are some of the most recognizable paintings of the 20th century.
Richard Woods, Little Milton, United Kingdom
Site specific pool by Richard Woods at Albion barn in Little Milton, UK. The coloured porcelain tiles appear like painted wood, giving the 60 foot long pool a pop, comic book illustration appearance. Michael Hue-Williams created the Albion Barn, a contemporary art space in Oxfordshire, England. The barn is known for its domestic and intimate atmosphere, blending together art, architecture, and nature in a unique setting.
Salvador Dali, Private Pool, Costa Brava, Spain
Salvador Dalí resided in the small fishing village of Port Lligat on the Costa Brava. His home, now a museum, showcases the influence of his playful art on his surroundings. He purchased and renovated a small building used for storing fishing equipment, transforming it into a unique home with his wife, Gala. Over 40 years, Dalí expanded the property into a labyrinthine structure of rooms, hallways, gardens, and varying floor levels, all reflecting his distinctive surrealist style. To go along with the play of Surrealism, Dali designed his pool phallic shaped.
Bernar Venet, Venet Foundation, Le Muy, France
Bernar Venet is a renowned French conceptual artist and sculptor known for his striking steel sculptures and mathematical precision. Venet’s home in Le Muy, Provence, a former mill and factory, brings together the industrial past with his monumental steel sculptures. The Venet Foundation was established in 2014 and has a beautiful sculpture park, home not only to Venet sculptures but also to other artists including Donald Judd, James Turrell, and Sol LeWitt.
Niki de Saint Phalle, Capalbio, Italy
Niki de Saint Phalle designed a pool within the Giardino dei Tarocchi, the Tarot Garden. The Tarot Garden is an expansive sculpture garden located just outside the quaint town of Capalbio in the Maremma region, outside of Rome. This site is a pilgrimage destination for art lovers, featuring monumental figures representing the major arcana of the tarot cards.
Ed Rusha, Studio City, California
Ed Rusha’s 1989 pool with his iconic text based work features white tiles arranged to form an underwater registration form, confronting swimmers with blanks for their name, address, and phone number. The pool was photographed exclusively for the inaugural issue of PUSH! magazine in 1991. Ruscha created this piece for his brother’s home in Studio City.
Pablo Picasso, “El Bailarín,”Marbella, Spain
In 1961, Pablo Picasso honored his friend, the renowned flamenco dancer and actor Antonio Ruiz Soler, by painting and signing the bottom of the pool at Villa El Martinete in Marbella, Spain. Antonio was nicknamed was “el Bailarín,” the dancer, and was the original owner of the villa. How the image came to be in the pool is the representative of when Picasso met the animated dancer.
Katherine Bernhardt, Nautilus Hotel, Miami, Florida
Katherine Bernhardt's pool design at the Nautilus Hotel in Miami. Swim with sharks, socks, bananas, and Sharpies on her pool-bottom mural. The pool was commissioned by Artsy in 2015. Bernhardt also designed towels with prints of toucans and French fries. These works exemplify the New York-based artist's distinctive style, blending tropical imagery with urban essentials in bold, vibrant colors.
Keith Haring, Carmine Street Mural, New York City
A permanent mural was done by Kieth Haring at the City of New York Parks and Recreation public swimming pool at Carmine Street and Seventh Avenue in Greenwich village. Harring painted the pool mural in 1987 and the mural is part of the Keith Haring foundation. It is closed for renovation but hopefully will be open for a swim soon.
