“Love is the ultimate luxury,” pronounces Iwan Wirth. “It is the warmest feeling of being in the right place with the right person in the right life. This whole project has a lot to do with love.”
For Wirth, the right place is Chesa Marchetta, a historic hotel and restaurant in Sils Maria, Switzerland, and the newest property to join Artfarm, the collection Wirth has created with his wife Manuela that includes The Fife Arms hotel in Braemar, Scotland. It is, the two say – almost in unison – “their most personal project to date”.
The restaurant at Chesa Marchetta © Joël Hunn
The Wirths are best known as the co-founders (together with Manuela’s mother Ursula) of the influential contemporary art dealers Hauser & Wirth, representing Louise Bourgeois, Mark Bradford, Philip Guston and Cindy Sherman. And while the global art market is currently volatile – the FT reported losses of 90 per cent to Hauser & Wirth’s UK profit in 2024 – the Wirths’ portfolio has continued to grow. A new London flagship is underway in a 19th- century Grade II-listed building on South Audley Street in Mayfair, and a new space in Palo Alto, California, will open next year.
It was and is the most romantic place I know
