Inside Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz’s Art-Filled Modernist Home Overlooking the Pacific Ocean

A busy plan, nonetheless, did not maintain Dean from staying a hands-on collaborator through the nine-month-extended undertaking, suggests Behun. “He life and breathes that house he understands just about every sq. inch of it. Becoming distant would normally be an obstacle, [but] he was so in tune with what he understood he preferred, and which is why all the things just clicked.” Erected in 2007, the cantilevered structure contains flooring-to-ceiling glass, white concrete, grand walkways, manicured courtyards, and floating staircases. Keen on producing the house more spouse and children-pleasant and significantly less like a place a “superhero would live in,” Behun brought in heat by introducing wooden things, Moroccan wool rugs, and seating upholstered in gentle fabrics like shearling and cotton velvet. The palette leans intensely on colors that harmonize with the views—golden sands, caramel browns, buttery cognacs. “The interiors really don’t in any way shout they are uncomplicated and timeless,” says Behun, later adding, “It was never ever likely to be about hoping to upstage the all-natural environment, the architecture, or the artwork.”

Dean and Keys’s artwork selection, amassed over 20 decades and totaling extra than 1,000 is effective, is as comprehensive as it is enviable. Decades ago, the couple chose to aim on acquiring items by African American and African artists, ranging from Kehinde Wiley and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye to Barkley L. Hendricks and Henry Taylor. They also have a treasure trove of Gordon Parks images—the most significant in personal hands. “It actually feels like he’s a grandfather to us,” suggests Keys of the celebrated lensman. “To be equipped to maintain his assortment alongside one another and for it to dwell in the property of Black artists is truly extremely emotional for me.”

According to Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, “Alicia and Kasseem see themselves not only as collectors of art but as custodians of the tradition.” She continues, “Over the decades, I’ve viewed their collection develop as their eyesight has widened and expanded to produce a selection that definitely represents the breadth and depth of the do the job currently being created by Black artists.” Dean, a member of the board of the Brooklyn Museum, and Keys also obtain to be in shut group with fellow creatives. “I really like that 90 percent of the art in the household is by artists who are now our good friends,” Dean offers. “We’ve damaged bread with them, they’ve partied at our property, they’ve expended the evening. It’s not transactional for us.”