If there are bucket-list restaurants, there, too, are bucket-list museums — and specific works of art that certain art enthusiasts are willing journey for.
Destination Art: 500 Artworks Worth the Trip (Phaidon) highlights 500 of these pieces, ranging from paintings and sculptures to large-scale installations and even works of architecture, such as the two-bedroom Essex house built by Gray Perry and FAT Architecture.
Among the artists that receive worthy mentions in the volume are Mark Rothko, Elsworth Kelly, Yayoi Kusama, Gianni Motti, and many more. Below, view five works to consider making a trip for.
A House for Essex, 2015, by Grayson Perry and FAT Architecture For Living Architecture in Essex, England
The green-and-white tile-clad house was designed by Grayson Perry in collaboration with FAT Architecture. Equipped with two bedrooms, the property can be rented for holidays.
Rothko Chapel, by Mark Rothko, in Houston, Texas
Architects Philip Johnson and Howard Barnstone constructed this “chapel” devoted to showcasing Rothko’s paintings. On display are 14 of the American artist’s works made especially for the space, making this Houston space a pilgrimage of sorts for Rothko fans.
House to Watch the Sunset, by Not Vital, in Aladab, Niger
The Swiss artist built an assembly of structures in Agadez, including a school, a mosque, several houses, and this terracotta-coloured tower imagined specifically as a site from which one can view the sunset over the desert.
Austin, by Ellsworth Kelly, in Austin, Texas
Evoking a stone igloo and and church at once, this chapel is Kelly’s final work. Conceived by the artist in 1986, the double-barrel-vaulted building featuring coloured glass windows — a nod to Kelly’s exploration of colour and shape — was constructed on the Blanton Museum of Art, located within the University of Texas at Austin’s campus, in 2015.
Success, Failure, 2014, by Gianni Motti, in Le Muy, France
One of some 30-plus sculptures on the 20-acre Domaine du Muy sculpture park built by Jean-Gabriel Mitterrand, whichever path you choose will lead to walking trails through natural terrain, paving the way for welcome moments of surprise in the form of other works of art from the likes of Yayoi Kusama and Sarah Morris.
Destination Art: 500 Artworks Worth the Trip (Phaidon) is available at book stores.
