Here, the thrill of the slopes meets a world of contemporary and traditional art.
Aside from Art Basel Miami Beach, most major fairs and important auctions take place outside of the ski season. However, well-appointed mountain towns such as Aspen and St Moritz are becoming increasingly well-established fine-art destinations. Here, we explore the select places to enjoy paintings and powder in these distinguished mountain towns.
Top art galleries in Aspen
Aspen Art Museum
Worth visiting for its architecture alone, Aspen Art Museum was founded in 1979 as a non-collecting art institution, and is now a large, public space. Its light, latticed, boxy structure at 637 East Hyman Avenue dates from 2014, and is the work of Pritzker Architecture Prize winner, Shigeru Ban.
However, the real draw this season is the museum’s Glenn Ligon show, Break It Down. Running from now until March 15, 2026, it spotlights the work of the Black, gay, New York-based artist known for her cerebral contemporary practice. Focusing on three key spaces – Figure, Runaways, and Narratives – from Linon’s work in the 1990s and early 2000s, it explores themes of race, identity, and sexual politics in America through text, printmaking, painting, and photography.
Galerie Maximillian
Established in 1997 by art dealer Albert Sanford, Galerie Maximilian specializes in prints and works on paper, and favors pieces by British artists, including Julian Opie, Peter Doig, Damien Hirst, Richard Hamilton, Harland Miller, and Grayson Perry. Still, it finds room for many Americans, such as Julie Mehretu, Chuck Close, and Katherine Bernhardt. The gallery prides itself on its personal approach – Sanford says he doesn’t show anything he wouldn’t proudly hang in his own home. If you visit, be sure to say hello to the gallery’s resident dogs, Hank and Lucy, as well as an ever-changing array of high-quality works on display at Maximillian’s 602 East Cooper Avenue space.
Baldwin Gallery
For the past 30 years, the Baldwin Gallery at 209 South Galena Street has showcased works by both established and emerging contemporary American artists, including Robert Mapplethorpe, Andy Warhol, Mickalene Thomas, and James Rosenquist. This winter, the spotlight turns to Louisiana-born, New York-based painter Marilyn Minter, whose provocative, makeup-smeared lip prints will be featured in a special exhibition running until December 21, 2025. Not in Aspen for that? The gallery will follow with a group show running from December 27, 2025 to February 8, 2026, presenting a trio of acclaimed mid-career US artists: Gary Simmons, Lyle Ashton Harris, and Jim Hodges.
Casterline Goodman
Though Aspen is now known as a premier ski town, it was settled as a 19th-century mining community and so is deeply rooted in the American frontier. The Casterline Goodman gallery reflects this history, showing works by contemporary artists David Hockney, Richard Prince, KAWS, and photographer David Yarrow, alongside late 20th and early 21st-century artists who celebrate Aspen’s roots, such as John Nieto and John De Puy.
Nieto, a Texan artist of Mexican-American heritage, focused on Native American themes in his work, while De Puy was one of the last surviving members of the Taos Modernists, taking mid-century abstract techniques and applying them to the New Mexico landscape. Yarrow, meanwhile, shoots stylized images that recall Aspen’s lawless Wild West years, and its hedonistic, bohemian heyday during the 1970s and 1980s.
Best art galleries in St Moritz
Hauser & Wirth
Hauser & Wirth’s Swiss heritage ensures that this outpost, at 22 Via Serlas in St Moritz, remains a key space within its global portfolio. From December 13, 2025 through March 28, 2026, its Moritz gallery stages a remarkable show of paintings, sculptures, and drawings by Alberto Giacometti. Though he is best known for his gangly sculptures, this Giacometti show, subtitled ‘Faces and Landscapes of Home’, focuses on the artist’s family, as well as landscapes of his native Val Bregaglia and the Engadin, in the surrounding Swiss canton of Graubünden.
Nomad
This footloose contemporary art fair – which also stages events in Monaco, Venice, Cannes, and Capri, and has a fair planned for the Hamptons next summer – schusses into Switzerland’s leading Alpine resort over the Valentine’s Day weekend, February 13 – 15, 2026.
Nomad prides itself not only on attracting great commercial gallery displays, but also in finding venues of architectural merit; its recent Abu Dhabi fair was staged in the decommissioned Terminal 1, at Zayed International Airport – a modernist gem designed by Paul Andreu, the celebrated French architect best-known for his work on Charles de Gaulle Airport. Exact details for Nomad St Moritz are being finalized, but visitors can expect to see fine works in an equally refined setting.
L’Atelier Gian Giovanoli
The Swiss commercial photographer Gian Giovanoli was born in the small Alpine village of Sils Maria and shot many of his earliest images in and around St Moritz. His gallery, part showroom, part atelier, at 33 Via Maistra dates from 2020. It regularly shows Giovanoli’s large-format black-and-white landscape prints photographed in the Swiss Alps, local wildlife studies, and personal projects, such as Giovanoli’s documentary series examining the lives of nomadic herders.
Deodato Arte
Located at 10 Via Rosatsch in St Moritz, this multi-gallery Italian venture specializes in pop and street art (think KAWs, Banksy, Takashi Murakami, Mr Brainwash). Works by contemporary and modern artists and photographers, including Jeff Koons and David LaChapelle, also make an appearance, alongside pieces from the odd celebrity painter, such as Johnny Depp. Deodato complements its physical presence with a well-curated online sales platform, allowing you to explore now and purchase later.
Art galleries in Megève
Four Seasons Resort Megève
Despite its cutesy village feel, tiny Megève – in the French Alps, near Mont Blanc – is about as luxe as ski resorts come (it was developed in 1920s as a French alternative to St Mortiz by none other than the Rothschild family). The jewel of the family’s Megève project is the Four Seasons resort which, while not strictly a gallery, hosts an impressive art display within its walls, with pieces from Baroness Ariane de Rothschild’s personal collection. Infusing a personal element to what could otherwise just be another outpost from an international hotel chain, Baroness Rothschild’s collection is made up of art from her travels, including life-size images of Indian headdresses, Japanese papers, and Alpine tapestries.
Edith Allard Modern and Contemporary Art Space
Located inside Megève’s cultural, leisure, and sports complex, the Edith Allard Modern and Contemporary Art Space hosts rotating exhibitions on local art and artists. From December 20, 2025 through May 3, 2026, the gallery will host a comprehensive retrospective of Megevan sculptor Pierre Margara, with over 100 pieces in wood, bronze, and marble.
Galerie Adrianna MJW
Less a gallery, more an invitation into an artist’s private space, Galerie Adrianna MJW is a culmination of Adrianna MJW’s moody, atmospheric prints and photography. Her studio looks out on the area’s dramatic scenery – as a result, each piece displayed captures a darker and more thoughtful side of the Alpine landscape, away from Megève’s more typical glitz. The studio is open daily, but as it is the artist’s personal space, consider reaching out beforehand to check opening hours.
Art installations in Powder Mountain
Powder Art Foundation
Combining ski and culture on an unprecedented level, the Powder Art Foundation takes the art to the slopes – from immersive sound exhibits scattered through the pines to skiable light shows. The multi-disciplinary exhibit is dotted across 12,000 acres of alpine terrain, with commissioned pieces rotating to reflect the seasons. Throughout summer all installations are open for the wider public to explore freely; in winter, access is included with every ski pass.
