Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton’s wise observation is true of many situations and many different works of art, but I found it never to have been more accurate than during a visit I made recently to a beautiful new country hotel in the east of the Balearic island of Mallorca. Nestled in a valley adjacent to the Llevant Nature Reserve, its 200 hectares are the introduction to what many are describing as “a haven of peace”, a Mallorquin Dar-es-Salaam.
The main facade of Es Racó d’Arta
Created by two Mallorquin friends, architect Toni Esteva and master builder Jaume Danús, from a virtually abandoned farm dating back to 13th century Arab times in Mallorca, Es Racó d’Arta unites nature with utter simplicity of surroundings. The result is, to me, an astonishing pathway to finding and losing oneself in harmony and peace.
Es Racó d’Arta
The main terrace, overlooking a lily pond where frogs sing happiliy
An ancient stone ladder
It took the two men eight years to learn about the land, to plan and ultimately unite the natural world and the restored, amplified farm buildings to create a five-star hotel. No trees were cut down; innumerable vines, olives and fruit trees have been planted, bees are made more than welcome and above the fertile, gentle valley, the mountain El Racó buffers the east winds from the Mediterranean.
El Racó mountain
Exploring the scattered buildings, I was struck by the skilful combination of beautiful Mallorquin building materials – golden stone, earth, cane and wood – with a Japanese aesthetic of minimalist décor, harmonies of subtle neutral colours and natural fibres. Everywhere you look, you feel at peace, yet actively aware of the art that you are experiencing.
One of the main public rooms
In the main building
Another public room
Simplicity
In the main building
In a public room
A strangely powerful ensemble - the remains of two leather-bound books
A sculpture by Hiroshi Kitamura
The doorway to a yoga retreat, adaptation of an 1889 building
The same building, cool and otherworldly
More patterns, in the spa area, nestled into the hillside
Another Hiroshi Kitamura sculpture in the spa
On another covered terrace, old ceramic amphorae
Perhaps the best validation of Thomas Merton’s observation is that amid such exquisitely balanced works of art, structures and natural surroundings, time completely melts into meaninglessness. Yet one leaves Es Racó d’Arta renewed to face the complex world beyond its borders.