I am not one of those who thinks the best way to display a painting is on a white wall.” “I find them soulless and without regard for the art. “I think that architects are going down the wrong path – creating modernist boxes that look like commercial galleries, places where you sell art, rather than live,” he says. “Nightmare! The contractors could not work.” Now it is finished, what pleases him most is the foundation’s defiance of contemporary art foundation norms. No sooner had Marino taken out all the windows and demolished the roof, than Covid hit. The project was by no means plain sailing.

Who else would buy this Queen Anne revival house from the 1890s?”ġ9th-century faience by Théodore Deck stands on pedestals and a table by Carlo Bugatti from circa 1900. Everybody in the town cast their eyes down as they passed her. “This former Lady had fallen on bad times. “It is important that buildings that were well-designed and well-built are kept in use,” he says. What did the building offer him? “It’s all about adaptive reuse, as part of the growing green movement,” Marino answers. As Marino has remarked, mischievously, “I see it as a house museum. Changing every season, with this year’s focused exhibitions of work by Vik Muniz (until 9 July), Anselm Kiefer (until October), Melvin Edwards (until October), Sanford Biggers (16 July–13 August) and Jean-Michael Othoniel & Johan Creten (20 August to October), locals and international visitors alike are invited to enjoy the different displays, talks and book signings. Photo: Jason SchmidtĪcquired over 40 years, this highly personal private collection ranges from Egyptian, Greek and Roman antiquities to Baroque bronzes, paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and sculpture by Les Lalanne, by way of Delacroix, 19th-century faience and the photography of Robert Mapplethorpe. A series of works by Jean Pagliuso, 2005–09.

Peter marino architect gisele bundchen