A picture of luxury: new Rolls comes with own art
IT HAS always signified the essence of luxury, but Rollsroyce has gone a step further with a new model containing an art gallery for the pleasure of passengers.
Unveiled in Mayfair last night, the new Phantom includes a glass-fronted cabinet to display a series of works by artists commissioned by Rolls-royce.
The gallery can also be adapted to display private artworks chosen by the car’s owner for the benefit of their passengers, which means you could have the company of a Damien Hirst or even an Old Master while waiting for the lights to turn green.
The gallery feature is part of the Phantom’s tradition of providing a superior level of comfort for its owners, which have included the Queen and the Aga Khan.
Giles Taylor, Rolls-royce’s director of design, said: “In the 18th-century, miniatures were highly fashionable and valuable items of art that allowed their owners to carry images of their loved one with them wherever they travelled. I really loved that idea of taking your art with you, when travelling, and so I acted on it. Now, our clients will be able to do the same.” The pieces commissioned for the Phantom include an oil painting by Liang Yuanwei, a Chinese artist, who was inspired by the South Downs, a gold-plated 3Dprinted map of an owner’s DNA created by Thorsten Franck, a German designer, a stem of porcelain roses handmade by Nymphenberg and an abstract design in silk by Helen Amy Murray, a young British artist.
Other features include double glazing and even a double thickness floor along with innovations such as foam-filled tyres to make the inside of the car near-silent.
Torsten Müller-ötvös, chief executive of Rollsroyce Motor Cars said: “Every one of our customers – each a connoisseur of luxury in the extreme – were asking for something more individual to them, not less. We were adamant that that was what they should have.”
The new Phantom, which has a 6.75 litre twin-turbo V12 engine, is likely to set you back around £400,000.
‘I loved that idea of taking your art with you when travelling and so I acted on it’