The former Grand Hotel Thunerhof of the late 19th century has been the home of Kunstmuseum Thun since 1948. This fact forms the thematic background of the international group exhibition Chambres de luxe. Invited to this exhibition are artists who have been dealing with social and cultural aspects of the hotel room, or examine it as a place of self-discovery in their work.
The hotel (room) is a space or site of production for a while and a place of retreat. It can also turn into a source of inspiration for artists or even cause a hostile and oppressive mood. For artists, a brief or regular visit to a hotel may be stimulating for a spontaneous realisation of their ideas, such as diary-like documents or sketches. The anonymous location of a hotel room, away from daily routine, mutates into a temporary studio. Driven by the struggle to exist, artists often lived in small hotels in the course of history and utilised this state of in-between to be artistically productive. Besides the works created through involvement with the premises of the Thunerhof, the exhibition also shows existing artistic works.