Since opening in 2010, Hotel Matilda has built an international brand as an innovative lifestyle and art-focused hotel.  Now, the award-winning property is celebrating its 5th anniversary by reinforcing its position as a leading art destination of Mexico.

“Reflecting the process of creating a fine painting, we are adding creative and colorful layers to the art experience at Hotel Matilda, and making 2015 a celebration of our artistic soul,” said Bruce James, director of Hotel Matilda.

The 5th anniversary year of art at the property was launched on March 5th with a special event that brought together artists whose works are part of the hotel's permanent collection – including Betsabee Romero, Angelo Musco, Spencer Tunick, Aldo Chaparro and Nacho Rodriguez among others  – with  owners of major Mexican art galleries, media and other VIPs and art aficionados. 

From the outset, Hotel Matilda reveled in being iconoclastic. The colonial style has always been de rigeur inhistoric, 500-year-old San Miguel de Allende. When Matilda opened, however, it unveiled the first and only contemporary ambiance, with an interior design resembling an art gallery. Defining the spaces are dramatic contemporary installations and works of art, many commissioned specifically for the hotel.

“The goal was to create an experiential atmosphere that is inspiring, fun, and even whimsical, such as the wallpaper of hundreds of nudes in the lounge bathroom adapted from a work by Spencer Tunick, the trio of riotous bronze masks on the lounge patio and the mad collage over the fireplace inspired by Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights,” said Mr. James.

The gallery-like ambience is the ideal canvas for the many art events the hotel hosts annually, from exhibits of works by important contemporary artists to SMART, the eclectic San Miguel art festival launched by Hotel Matilda in 2012.  Underscoring Hotel Matilda's commitment to the arts is that it was eponymously named for the subject of a famous painting in the hotel's collection: Diego Rivera's larger-than-life portrait of the owner's mother, Matilda Stream. An art-centered hotel is singularly apropos to San Miguel to Allende because this historic colonial town with its virtually pristine Spanish-era architecture has long been a hub of the arts known for its art schools, art galleries and many resident artists. Hotel Matilda echoes, reinforces and has come to embody the modern artistic soul of San Miguel.

Among the celebrated artists with works in Hotel Matilda are:

–       Bosco Sodi, whose striking 8' x 16' organic masterpiece, “Blue Pangaea,” soars to the second story of the lobby atrium with its unharnessed energy.

–       Aldo Chapparo, his vibrant light sculpture defining the vaulted brick ceiling of the lounge.

–       Nacho Rodriguez Bach, his electronic grid behind the Front Desk is a continuously evolving kaleidoscopic fusion of energy and light.

–       Spencer Tunick, internationally recognized for his photos of mass nudes, has his most famous shot in Hotel Matilda: 18,000 nudes in Mexico City's main square (which was adapted for the lounge bathroom wallpaper).

–       Javier Marín, his large bust in an exterior corridor bursts with powerful energy.

–       Angelo Musco, whose “Aranea” in Spa Matilda is a symbolic spider web of more than 48,000 interlocking and overlapping human figures.

–       Betsabee Romero, her collage of mirrors with symbolic messages mirror human emotions.

–       Daniela Edburg, a native of San Miguel de Allende whose photos employ hypnotic visual effects and exaggerated allegories.

–       Eduardo Dayan, whose photos depicting iconic Mexican scenes inject every room and suite with an artistic sense of place.

–       Rodrigo Lara Zendejas, whose trio of large, grotesque masks in the lounge channel  ancient Aztec and Maya artistic traditions.

–       Luis Barba, his symbolic collage over the lounge fireplace is a modern version of the “Garden of Earthly Delights.”

Noted Mexican photographer and creative director Miguel Angel Ruiz recently did a photo shoot at the hotel to illustrate Matilda's concept of “living in the spaces.” He photographed pieces from the permanent collection that were inserted into indoor and outdoor locations around the hotel, making them part of the scene and lifestyle of Hotel Matilda.  His  creative work has been awarded at the most renowned festivals (global, regional and local), making him the most awarded Mexican creative director in the history of the country.

“At Hotel Matilda, guests are closer, and have a more personal and intimate experience with the art, than at any art gallery,” explained Mr. James. “Having works of art all around you when you are sitting in the library or having lunch at Moxi is completely different and infinitely friendlier than viewing art at a museum.”

Hotel Matilda is a dynamic contemporary hotel celebrated for its chic, lifestyle-focused guest experience that, in November 2014, was named the #2 hotel in Mexico by Condé Nast Traveler in its Readers' Choice Awards.

Mr. Stream and Mr. James founded Cornerstone in 2013, a hotel management and development company that is to creating a distinctive hospitality brand based on the concept behind Hotel Matilda and its sophisticated 'Matilda lifestyle' guest experience. Cornerstone opened its first new property of the collection in 2014, Hotel Cacao in Playa del Carmen, and the second will open in 2015 in the San Angel district of Mexico City.

The 'Matilda lifestyle' guest experience combines an award-winning holistic spa that was named to Condé Nast Traveler's 2011 Hot List of the world's top new spas; a popular lounge known for its creative mixology; designer rooms and suites; a vibrant art-gallery-like interior – the first and only contemporary ambiance in colonial San Miguel de Allende – filled with an eclectic collection of dramatic contemporary works by noted artists, many specifically commissioned for the hotel; and world-class dining by Enrique Olvera in Moxi. For information and reservations: toll free 855-MATILDA (855-628-4532) or info@hotelmatilda.com.   www.hotelmatilda.com

Hotel Matilda opened in September 2010 in the center of San Miguel de Allende, the crown jewel of Colonial Mexico that is an UNESCO World Heritage Site celebrated for its intact 500-year-old Spanish architecture. Condé Nast Traveler, in its recently announced 2014 Readers' Choice Awards, named engaging and beautiful San Miguel – with its graceful arches, beautiful bell towers, ornate churches, cobbled lanes and walls aflame with red bougainvillea – the #5 destination in the world.