The 400-room Hilton West Palm Beach commissioned Eaton Fine Art (EFA), a full-service art consultancy firm to collaborate on the art program for the public spaces and guestrooms.
Terry Eaton, EFA’s founder and chief curator, created an art program inspired by South Florida’s landscape while using high art to avoid obvious “tropical tropes.”
In the hotel’s restaurant, Manor, ceramic discs were installed like barnacles on a wall near large, graphic photographs printed onto canvas that depicts sea urchins and coral, created by a local photographer. The beach is brought into the bar as well, where a “painting” made from colorful, reclaimed wooden buoys complements the space’s paneling.
In the corridors and guestrooms, abstract paintings with blues and greens bring the organic palette of Florida’s coast and familiar palm trees indoors. Polished wooden sculptures sit on the floors and, when placed near greenery, act as surrogate trunks, optically creating a deconstructed palm tree.
The art team also installed the custom metal wall art behind the concierge desk in the lobby, which features hand-forged iron by an additional local artist. The artwork's organic shape mimics an ocean wave, with each individual piece acting as a ripple in the tide. The copper hue complements the ceiling panels etched with leaf contours, giving another nod to the hotel’s location.
