‘ Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life,’
E objet d’art— Grace E, Grace E Grace Grace E,
Oscar Wilde wrote in his 1889 essay “The Decay of Lying.” He observed that it was life’s self-conscious aim to fnd expression. He wrote, “What is found in life and nature is not what is really there, but is that which artists have taught people to fnd there, through art.”
Cruising aboard 239-foot (73-meter) Picchiotti from Italy’s Perini Navi Group, is a study in art and artfulness. Moving through the yacht is like moving through a museum where industrial and fne art blend. One encounters sandblasted sycamore, polished stainless, silken handmade carpet and tightly woven leather treads on the stairs—soft and springy under bare feet. This is 3-D textural art, an installation. The attitude of the custom-designed furniture and furnishings is both edgy and clean, as in a constructivist painting. The shapes are rectangular and rounded. You want to run your fngers over everything: wood, stone, golden threads, linen and cashmere. A day in the life aboard exudes experiential as well as visual art. The Muriel Grateau and JL Coquet place settings, the Muriel Grateau and Hermès cutlery, and the ever-changing table decorations—each one an depict one still life after another.
On the guest is a hands-on viewer of the collection, and the modern museum is
herself. The salons, the dining room, the guest staterooms: all present a backdrop for Jasper Johns, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Franz Kline, Roy Lichtenstein and more.
Clearly, the reason is so successful is that her American owners have a well-defned aesthetic vision and a profound understanding of what it takes to be comfortable at sea. Combine this with their keen appreciation for art, and for what makes art art, and the resultant yacht creates quite an impact. The owners’ sophistication in taste extends to a respect for the sea’s fragile environment, which led them to utilize eco-friendly technology to drive her. What transforms Grace E into a living work of art is that these owners use the yacht as she was intended—as a luxurious platform to eat, sleep, play and travel around the world with the consciousness of connoisseurs. What is so particularly lovely is that this couple enjoys sharing their art, Grace E, with family and friends.
Last summer they cruised around Scandinavia and the United Kingdom with a rotating group of friends. I was fortunate to be included in their guest list for a week’s cruise commencing in Copenhagen, Denmark, and ending in Gothenburg, Sweden. A signifcant part of our cruise was informed by art, architecture and the art of creative living. Our trip began where Danish Modern was born.
Grace E had prime dock space on the quay in front of Amalienborg, the Danish royal family’s winter palace in Copenhagen. Lying alongside the prominent promenade, the yacht was as much a tourist attraction as we were tourists. Grace E was situated in the virtual center of a historical axis running from the rococo copper-domed “Marble Church” (formally known as Frederik’s Church) through the stately classic Amalienborg Palace to the sleek, sophisticated Copenhagen Opera House on Holmen Island across the harbor. The Opera House, designed by Henning Larsen with input from donor A.P. Møller, stands in sharp contrast to the church and palace, with angular and modern styling including a large glass front and a fat-overhanging suspended roof. Lounging in the hot tub on the upper deck, we sipped cognac and watched a laser light show turn the Opera House red, then green, then yellow, then blue—Danish/Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson in action.
Our daily itinerary aboard Grace E was beautifully constructed around amazing meals, each highlighting the chef’s artful palette of inspired tastes and artful presentations, a bit of cruising, private tours and free time. We spent a couple of days touring Copenhagen by foot, car, tender and kayak. We delighted in exploring the canals of Nyhavn and Christianshavn, marveling at the architecture fanking the lively water scene. One of our guided tours was to the “Genetically Modifed Paradise,” a group of sculptures that includes artist Bjorn Nørgaard’s satirical take on the “Little Mermaid” statue created by Edvard Erikson in 1913. Nørgaard said of his own work, “Art does not embody defnitive conclusions, but rather accommodates open possibilities for discussing art’s function in the context of modern society.”
The Danes are thinkers, and they are also a pretty irreverent lot. A small country of approximately 5.6 million, they are an upstart nation. We also associate high design with Denmark, such as the artist/architect Arne Jacobsen and his revolutionary modern furniture designs such as the ant, swan, and dot and egg chairs that were popular in