InterContinental Celebrates 200 Hotels with Champagne Art

To commemorate InterContinental Hotel’s 200th opening (you can read about the Shanghai Wonderland here), an installation by mixed-media artist Alexander Hall (also known as Haut de Gamme) has been displayed in select hotels throughout the world.

The installation is comprised of 200 hand-painted champagne bottles — fitting for the momentous celebration. Every hanging bottle is unique and inspired by one of the 200 hotels; each one captures the character, history and individuality of its location.

The InterContinental New York Barclay bottle depicts a birdcage, as it was the first hotel to have one in its lobby. It was filled with canaries and other songbirds, and guests could house their own birds in the 14-ft cage.

While the whimsical, fun installation was commissioned exclusively for InterContinental, you can still bring a little champagne-inspired art into your home. Haut de Gamme’s vibrant, punky prints are daring and chic — his signature style is Pop Art-esque bright colors, dripping paint and gold leaf. A limited-edition series features a number of original prints with Dom Pérignon-style bottles reimagined in Technicolor glory.

As Hall explains: “My inspiration for this painting stems from experiences with people, which made me want to create something that made others feel positive. From the response of my other works, I wanted to create this piece with softer pastel colors to reflect my emotions of excitement building up. It’s one of my favorite pieces because I remember holding myself back from overworking it (which is very easy to do!). I had fun doing it, and I think it shows.”