The Art of Skincare with La Prairie – Vanity Fair

Think high-performance luxury skincare and immediately La Prairie, the revered Swiss brand, comes to mind. The two are synonymous. Delve a little deeper under the skin of the lauded house, however, and you uncover something its loyal following has always known—the world of contemporary art courses through La Prairie’s veins.

The unconvinced need only take one look at the evidence. The brand’s founder, Dr. Paul Niehans, took inspiration from Bauhaus, the art movement steeped in an “art in everything” ethos, hence this sensibility is clear in everything La Prairie does. The unmistakable rich cobalt blue glass skincare jars and bottles designed by French-American sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle; the collaborations with world-class art fairs such as Art Basel in Basel, Hong Kong and Miami, where the brand supports and commissions up-and-coming as well as established artists, raising their profile on a global scale while also previewing their latest exquisite technologically driven skincare.

This time, however, its latest launch is not a bottle of serum targeting fine lines or a depuffing eye cream. In fact, there are no products to speak of. Rather, La Prairie has joined forces with Fondation Beyeler, one of the most prestigious art institutions in Switzerland, on a two-year partnership to support the Piet Mondrian Conservation Project. This collaboration, explains Greg Prodromides, La Prairie’s Chief Marketing Officer, not only highlights the importance of conserving art for posterity, “it takes our cultural engagement to another level”.

Three-fold thinking behind the collaboration, says Prodromides, made this union a no-brainer. “Fondation Beyeler is another Swiss House like us that shares the same values of perfection and the quest for very high quality. It is also in line with the vision that we have: to build luxury with a higher meaning. Also, it is Piet Mondrian, an artist who has deeply influenced the expression of the house of La Prairie.” Mondrian, famed for his abstract geometric paintings, is widely considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th Century; when you consider his influence across the world of design, culture and fashion, it’s an accolade that cannot be argued with. Fondation Beyeler, the museum founded by Ernst Beyeler—the art collector and dealer behind Art Basel—holds one of the most prestigious collections of Mondrians in Switzerland.

A paean to modern and contemporary art, it carries more than 400 Post-Impressionist, classical modern and contemporary works. This is why the temporary exhibitions, held three to four times a year—think pioneering artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Henri Matisse, Jeff Koons, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pablo Picasso—see art lovers flock in from far and wide.

In 2022, the highly anticipated subject of choice will be Mondrian, and the institution is tasked with conserving four of his minimalist artworks—Tableau No 1; Composition with Yellow and Blue; Composition with Double Line and Blue; and Lozenge Composition with Eight Lines and Red. It is a task Marcus Gross, the Head of Conservation at Fondation Beyeler, sees not simply as a vocation, but as a calling and responsibility. “Our mission is the long-term preservation of art, hence we do very deep research on the technique and materials used by the artist and the condition of the artwork.”

A remarkable commitment to conserving inimitable artworks is something the conservators at Fondation Beyeler are famed for. It is an intensive, holistic approach, which involves studying, documenting, analysing and, essentially, going beyond the perfunctory in order to display the original intention of the artist. Just like the technologically advanced, groundbreaking skincare formulas that La Prairie has built its reputation on, science, explains Gross, “plays a very important role. By using various scientific techniques and equipment, we are able to decide exactly how to preserve artworks in the future”.

It is impossible to detach the role of conservation from the future of art, hence, explains Ulrike Erbsloh, Managing Director at Foundation Beyeler, the significance of La Prairie’s patronage. “Through this partnership,” he says, “we are able to communicate to the wider public that art conservation is absolutely crucial to artworks being preserved for future generations.”

Prodromides echoes Erbsloh’s sentiments adding, “Art is part of who we are. Our attitude, our DNA, a prism through which we look at the world. So this project is our way of contributing back to our communities and doing our part to make the world a little more beautiful, not just for today but also for the generations to come.”

Discover more at La Prairie.