Cultural Tourism and Creative Exchange: Explore Europe's Best Art Residencies

BEST IN SHOW | HAPPENINGS | WORLD OF CABANA

From Tuscan hillsides and Provençal villages, to English castles and the Scottish highlands, the art gallery meets creative homestay model - best introduced by Hubert Bonnet's Fondation CAB - signals a wider reawakening: artist residencies as catalysts for cultural tourism and creative exchange. Cabana explores six of the best art residencies. 

BY ISABEL FROEMMING | HAPPENINGS | 15 OCTOBER 2025

Hubert Bonnet's Fondation CAB, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence © Fondation CAB

This Fall, artistic residencies are reshaping itineraries for seasoned art lovers and travellers, redefining how art is not only to be seen, but to be lived. 

Read on to discover six of Cabana's favorite artistic residences in Europe, some to visit for a few hours, and others where you can linger for days. From the Scottish highlands to the Swiss Alps, these are some of the best residences to bookmark for Fall 2025.

Culture-led travel in Provence

Hubert Bonnet's Fondation CAB, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence © Fondation CAB

While minimalism often veers toward austerity, at the brilliant Fondation CAB it breathes with intent and invention. Founded in Brussels by Belgian collector, Hubert Bonnet, the non-profit art gallery now spans two locations, in Belgium and France, and is a temple for Constructivist lineage and its contemporary echoes.

At the foundation's French outpost, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Provence — a Bauhaus-tinged, 1950s site with sweeping views over Cap d’Antibes — the mission doubles: seasonal exhibitions drawn from the collection mingle with an art residency programme that grants artists time and space for reflection and experimentation. 

Esteemed French architect, Charles Zana, worked closely with Bonnet to curate four unique studios: guest rooms that blend Charlotte Perriand tables, Jean Prouvé chairs, and Le Corbusier touches with modern comforts — extending the dialogue between architecture, design, and art into the real-life quarters where artists live and make.

Bonnet's in-house collection of contemporary and 20th-century art and furniture juxtaposes the pioneering abstraction of Belgian artists, like Jo Delahaut, with the conceptual force of Daniel Buren — perhaps best known for his monochrome installation in the Palais Royal. As Bonnet himself explains, he seeks “radical, clear, strong and precise works of art”. The collector, whose sharp eye has set the stage for provocative dialogues, has even followed up with Maisons CAB, bookable houses around the world where guests can live among museum-worthy art and furniture.

Now open at Fondation CAB is Convergences, which pairs four singular artistic paths connected by exploration of form, space, and materiality. The gallery nods to this wider shift, placing residencies and open studios at the heart of culture-led travel. 

In the Tuscan hills at Villa Lena

Villa Lena’s 19th-century restored villa anchors 500 hectares of olive groves, vineyards, and woodland, inviting contemporary makers to explore their practice. 2025 resident Lily Lewis called it “a sanctuary of creation; halfway between wild and free range.”

Each November, applications are reviewed to join the non-profit foundation’s summer residencies, which invite artists, including Bettina Nelson, and essayist, Amy Reading, to harness their internationally-spanning practice in the Tuscan landscape.

Residents pursue self-directed projects within the estate while also taking part in weekly talks, workshops with local botanicals, and communal meals shaped by its farm-to-table ethos. Works created in residence scatter the wider estate, leaving behind a living archive.

Join the Manners at Belvoir Castle 

Belvoir Castle opened its doors to a new wave of artists-in-residence through HeritageXplore, created in partnership with The Dot Project. Here, artists live and work on-site, creating pieces that respond to the estate’s history and landscape — activating grand rooms and grounds with contemporary voices.

Among the premier exhibitions is Motherhood (2025), led by the Duchess of Rutland, exploring the lives of duchesses, countesses, and women tied to the castle over five centuries. Visitors can book exclusive tours and view artist showcases not only at Belvoir Castle, but also at Elvedon and Cliveden, where this season’s residents include Heath and Tase Rose Wae, Jack Penny, and David Matthew King. 

“The houses will be transformed — revived as vibrant, imaginative spaces of artistic exchange, collaboration and innovation,” says Dot Project founder, India Montgomery.

Textile and Conversation at The Fife Arms 

For its third edition, the Festival of Fashion unfurls at The Fife Arms, Hauser & Wirth’s Highland outpost on the Balmoral Estate. From November 7–9, Braemar becomes a stage for workshops, pop-up ateliers, performances, and exhibitions, with students and international voices in the mix. Highlights include a talk with Manolo’s Kristina Blahnik, workshops curated by the V&A Dundee, and a promising designer showcase.

As Lynne Coleman notes, “Beautiful Braemar has bewitched Kings and Queens, artists and writers, plus a plethora of travel pilgrims who have taken the long journey from around the globe to see it in all its glory for centuries”—a fitting backdrop for this new chapter.

City Dreaming with Parisian Artist Ben Arpéa

From Paris to Rome, French artist Ben Arpéa is reimagining hospitality as a total artwork. “I want to transform a simple overnight stay into a complete artistic experience,” he says of his ephemeral takeovers at La Fantaisie (21–23 October) and Casa Monti (4–7 November).

Known for his geometric abstraction and semi-figurative forms, Arpéa will transform each suite with paintings, textiles, and bespoke furniture crafted with artisan Victor de Rossi. Custom candles, informative literature, and a soundtrack complete the immersion, inviting guests to live inside his world rather than simply observe it.

Snowbound at Verbier 3-D Foundation

Cannupa Hanska Luger, Sempervivum, 2025 © Melody Sky

High in the Swiss Alps, the Verbier 3-D Foundation turns mountain terrain into gallery and studio. At 2,300 m, this residency + sculpture park asks artists to leave the four walls behind — to dialogue with snow, rock, climate, convention.

Opening this month is work by 2025 artist-in-residence Cannupa Hanska Luger, whose six-week Alpine immersion culminates in a new installation for the Sculpture Park.