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GETTING THERE
Located on Sweden’s
southern tip, outside the
village of Knislinge, the
Wanås estate is a 90-minute
drive from Malmö and two
hours from Copenhagen.HOTEL
Wanås Hotel Occupying
18 th-century stables, this
recently opened 11-room
inn is outfitted with a stylish
mix of locally-crafted
wood-and-leather
furnishings and Mid-century
Modern pieces. Doubles from
US$199; wanasrh.seRESTAURANT
Wanås Restaurant Located
in a barn across from the
hotel, the restaurant serves
meals in a light-filled
dining room that has an
assortment of communal
wooden tables. Working in
an open kitchen, chef
Mathias Klingemann
prepares seasonal Nordic
dishes, including braised
lamb with pickled fennel and
sunflower seeds. Tasting
menu US$66; wanasrh.seACTIVITY
Wanås Konst More than
70 artworks are scattered
across the property’s
100 acres, so give yourself
a few hours to see them all.
Don’t miss Ann Hamilton’s
Lignum, which occupies
all five floors of a former
farm building, and two
multi-sensory installations
in the forest: Nathalie
Djurberg and Hans Berg’s
In Dreams and Robert
Wilson’s A House for Edwin
Denby. wanaskonst.seTHE DETAILS
convert to organic dairy farming. Today, Wanås is one of the biggest such farms in
Sweden. In the early 2000s Carl-Gustaf had a new cow barn built—a striking Modernist
concrete structure, featuring an imposing triangular façade, that looks more like
a church or a museum. “The new barn was inspired by the art,” Carl-Gustaf told me,
and I immediately thought of American artist Jene Highstein’s Grey Clam, a
monumental, bivalve-shaped concrete platform tucked among beech trees in the forest.
“We asked ourselves, why can’t we make a farm building that is beautiful? We were
inspired by the artists to do something diff erent, to take risks.”
At the same time, they began converting old farm buildings into spaces for art.
One fi ve-storey barn was given over entirely to Ann Hamilton’s sprawling masterpiece
Lignum. Using all fi ve fl oors like a tapestry, the artist wove together sound and sculptural
elements that refer to the history of the building, the estate, and the region. One fl oor
is fi lled with carved wooden tables; another has cotton threads stretched from beam
to beam, forming loom-like screens.
he latest phase of development at Wanås—the new restaurant and hotel—has
been overseen by Marika and Carl-Gustaf’s oldest son, Baltzar. Four years ago,
he and his wife, Kristina, moved here with their four young girls to take over
management of the estate, making the couple the eighth generation of
Wachtmeisters to run the place. Kristina, an architect who interned under Rem Koolhaas,
designed the restaurant interior and the hotel guest rooms, incorporating family heirlooms,
vintage pieces, and furniture she commissioned from local artisans that uses wood and
leather from Wanås. With no hospitality experience, she did extensive research and reached
out to some of Sweden’s best talents, seeking advice from Jeanette Mix, owner of the
Stockholm boutique hotel Ett Hem, and chefs Magnus Nilsson and Mathias Dahlgren.
“Mathias gave us some great advice,” Kristina recalled. “He said we shouldn’t worry
about fi ne dining and instead fi nd a signature dish that everyone dreams about, whether it’s
our cardamom buns or the tartare made from the farm’s own beef. Whatever it is, people
eating here should wake up the next morning thinking about that dish.” She added, “For me
that dish is our soft ice cream, which we make exclusively from the milk of our own cows.”
That morning, she had her daughters collect wild violets to put on top of the ice cream.
Just as art has no borders at Wanås, neither will the restaurant. “For the most part,
we will serve our dishes in the restaurant, but we are thinking about making picnics
for guests to take with them into the park,” Kristina said.
According to Baltzar, the secret to Wanås’s success has been its openness. “With
many of these old estates there were codes, and modern ways tended to be frowned
upon,” he explained. “Properties were typically closed off and kept for the family.
But my parents showed what a great journey it could be if we opened up the estate
to contemporary culture and the rest of the world.”
Throughout his childhood, Baltzar and his brothers were exposed to artists from
numerous countries. “They were always curious and fun and a bit crazy,” he said,
laughing. “It meant that my brothers and I had regular contact with alcohol and
cigarettes.” He can recount dinners with Abramović, and the late artist Jason Rhoades
was a friend. “One day at school,” he recalled, “the principal called me in to say that
I had to leave school early to pick up Christo and Jeanne-Claude at the airport.” And now
Baltzar would like his daughters to grow up in a similarly inspiring environment.
Without the creative spirit that defi nes Wanås, Baltzar noted, he and Kristina would have
found it diffi cult to move here. “We were fortunate to have been given this inheritance,”
he said. “While some people could fi nd it a burden, we want to continue to make Wanås as
interesting as we can, both for us and for others.” With the family having overseen this land
for centuries, Baltzar tries to take a long-term view. “I hope,” he said, “that in another eight
generations the family will be happy with what we have added to Wanås.”
KIDS RUN AROUND WANÅS LOOKING FOR
ART AS IF THEY ARE ON A TREASURE HUNT.
T
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