Blue-Green View

History of the work

At the Villa Favorite on Schanzeneckstrasse stands a work by Luciano Andreani from 2002. It is called 'Blaugrüner Blick' (Blue-Green Gaze) and, according to the city's records, is made of natural stone and of metal that has been rusted and painted. Wikimedia Commons shows it as the niche fountain of the Favorite; there it is dated 2003 and called 'Grünblauer Blick' in the image description. The available sources do not say exactly what it depicts.

The house has an eventful history. The architect Carl Diwy built it from 1862 to 1864 as the Villa Burgheim for a silk manufacturer; according to the building inventory it was the oldest villa built not directly on Stadtbachstrasse but set back on the slope. It has been called Villa Favorite since 1870. In 1880 the French state bought it as the residence of its embassy. From 1909 it was a guest house with a spa, and from 1914, in time for the national exhibition, the Parkhotel Favorite, which even offered its own petrol station. From 1926 to 1989 the Deaconess House ran the Heim Favorite here. The building got its present outline in the conversion of 1934/35.

In 2000 and 2001 the house was thoroughly renovated; since then the upper floors have held ten flats and the ground floor a restaurant. Andreani's work was made shortly afterwards. According to the inventory, the old park still has its large trees, retaining walls of sandstone and rubble stone, balustrades, a pond and a draw well more than twelve metres deep.

Luciano Andreani was born in Como on 28 January 1947. The artists' lexicon SIKART lists him as a sculptor who also works with performance and installation. According to a report by Swiss broadcaster SRF he worked in Bern for fifty years. He calls the 'Wasserspeier' (Water Spout) in Münstergasse his main work; it soaks passers-by who bend down for the coins on the cobbles. On site, look at the colour: the title names blue and green, and the material is painted metal.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Kultur Stadt Bern, Kunst im öffentlichen Raum (offene Daten) · Bauinventar Stadt Bern: Schanzeneckstrasse 25 (Villa Favorite) · SIKART: Luciano Andreani · SRF News, 13.7.2024: Künstler will Stadt Bern sein Hauptwerk schenken – diese winkt ab · Wikimedia Commons: Favorite-Nischenbrunnen