Chef Daniel Boulud: A Conversion About Art & Haute Cuisine
Reimagining DANIEL
When Chef Daniel Boulud called me in the spring of 2021 to curate a new installation of art for Restaurant DANIEL, his beloved, Michelin-starred flagship at 60 East 65th Street, I was thrilled to begin another aesthetic journey with the acclaimed chef who I am lucky to call a friend.
We began working together in 2004 when I was a Director at Marlborough Gallery, with installations at Restaurant DANIEL and Café Boulud at the former Surrey Hotel. Now, with the renovation of the 65th Street establishment in process, I joined Chef Daniel, the fantastic team at his company Dinex, and the experts at Tihany Design, to reimagine the celebrated restaurant.
Alex Katz & Robert Mapplethorpe
With Chef Daniel, we created a dedicated series of biannual exhibitions to be installed in the historic neoclassical dining room, the intimate Upper Lounge and the private Bellecour Room. This exciting initiative recently debuted with an exhibition of large-scale landscape paintings by the iconic American artist Alex Katz in collaboration with the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York. In the Upper Lounge, we chose a selection of sublime black and white photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe, courtesy of the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation and Gladstone. The exhibition of significant works of art at Restaurant DANIEL reflects Chef Daniel’s deep appreciation for artists and their unique visions, a parallel to his devotion to fine cuisine as an art in itself.
Best Restaurateur of the World
Chef Daniel was recently proclaimed Best Restaurateur of the World by Les Grandes Tables du Monde, the celebrated association of culinary excellence founded in France in 1954. Given Chef Daniel’s already hectic schedule, this well-deserved award added even more demands to his agenda, but we carved out time for an interview to discuss his first experiences with art and its relation to cuisine. Gleaned from a lively 45-minute conversation, Chef Daniel shared some early stories and his passion for art.
Picasso @ Le Moulin de Mougins
JGC: What was your first memorable experience with art as a young man?
DB: Where it really struck me – the relation between the artist and the chef – was at [three-Michelin star restaurant] Le Moulin de Mougins, near Cannes, where Chef Roger Vergé was a friend. 
Especially going to the south of France with Mougins, Cannes, Nice, all those villages are very artistic, including Mougins. Mougins was a village of artists and also collectors. It was the village of Picasso. Picasso was living at villa Notre-Dame-de-Vie before he passed away [in April 1973]. I went to work at Mougins in November ‘74, so almost a year and a half after… There at the Moulin, the waiters were telling me stories about Picasso and his time there. Picasso had made a painting for Roger Vergé to put in the bar at the Moulin.
There were all these artists like César, [Jean-Michel] Folon, [Jean-Claude] Farhi
and Arman, and other artists of the Ecole de Nice, who were hyper-creative and very resourceful. I remember César would take copper and take all the old cafetière – the coffee pots – to create sculptures. The garden was full of sculptures from many of those artists, and the restaurant, too.
The Mühl Movement
There was an artist in Mougins called Roger Mühl [1929-2008] and he was friends with all the greatest chefs in France. He did the portraits of all the great chefs, but he also lived in Mougins, so he was also painting Provence. Roger Vergé, and also [Chef Paul] Haeberlin in Alsace [at the Auberge de L’Ill], because Roger Mühl was from Alsace originally, they were the two who started the “Mühl movement.” And then in every Relais & Châteaux, or sometimes three-star [Michelin] restaurants, they all had [works by] Roger Mühl on the wall.
JGC: So, it became a requirement, after that, to have a Roger Mühl in the restaurant?
DB: Exactly, it was a fraternité. Roger [Mühl] was a wonderful man. He would come to the Moulin de Mougins all the time, as he was very close friends with Roger Vergé. You could feel the passion of Roger Vergé through the art, and their friendship as well, and the kind of complicity and collaboration between all of them. Every one of the artists LOVED Roger’s cooking and food and there was always an opportunity to get together and party together.
And then from Moulin de Mougins, I went to live in Copenhagen; that’s where I started to buy my first pieces of art. I arrived in Copenhagen, I was 21, 22 and I was doing the galleries, and choosing some nice, interesting things. In Copenhagen, there were a lot of good artists, nothing at the international scale, but at least some good artists. I still have these paintings in my home in France – a lot of landscapes, a little naïf…
Chef Michel Guerard @ Les Prés d’Eugénie
After this, I returned to the South of France to work with Michel Guerard, Eugénie-Les-Bains, and there the art was much more curated. At Guerard, there were paintings that were unusual shapes, made to be in the restaurant; they are still there now.
JGC: This is the restaurant and inn, Les Prés d’Eugénie, in Southwestern France. Is that right?
DB: Yes, that to me was the quintessential luxury, to be able to have this kind of artwork custom made for the restaurant. After Michel Guerard, I was doing a lot of photography. I took a lot of pictures of artwork there. You know at the time I could not afford it, but at least I was inspired.
Le Cirque, Andy Warhol, Daniel, Les Pleiades & Leo Castelli
JGC: Tell us about your time in New York. You arrived in 1982?
DB: I came to New York and I started to meet some artists. I arrived on the Upper East Side and the galleries were there. So, I started to collect art at the time, or at least buy art that I could afford. I also met all kinds of artists. To fast forward – the first ten years – my time [as a chef] at The Westbury, Plaza-Athenée, Le Cirque, I met many artists of the time, including Andy Warhol. But then when I opened DANIEL, I met Leo Castelli. I opened the restaurant [in 1993] at Les Pleiades, it had been the most famous restaurant for artists’ gatherings. Les Pleiades was the rendezvous of the entire art world – artists, dealers, clients – because Sotheby’s was across the street where now Gagosian is. The ‘70s and ‘80s they [Les Pleiades] were basically fed by the art world. Leo Castelli was holding court every day there, with all the great American artists.
Then a friend of mine, Annie Cohen-Salal, do you know her?
JGC: Yes, you mentioned Annie Cohen-Solal, the French historian and writer. Her book, Painting American: The Rise of American Artists, Paris 1867-New York 1948, was published in 2001. She had the book party at DANIEL with you?
DB: Oui, we held her book party at DANIEL – a lunch. I have never seen so many artists together at once as on that day. I wish I could have asked each one of them to sign my jacket!
“Food is a Form of Art”
JGC: Let’s discuss what art and food mean to you; how do they intersect and combine?
DB: Well, I think there is no artist that is not sensitive to art in a restaurant or in the kitchen. I think food is a form of art, for sure. It’s definitely a way of transforming and creating. You know art can be done in many ways, but it’s often layering something to find the harmony. You want to find the balance. You want to find creativity as to be unique, and yet it has to be understood – or, maybe not understood – but enjoyed for the fact that everyone has his own appreciation and interpretation of it.
I think with food sometimes there is a little bit of that. There are certain things that are obviously universally liked the same way, and there are some things that are not always liked for the same reason or [in] the same way, by people, but still are appreciated for the creativity and artistry in it.
JGC: That’s an elegant way of putting it.
DB: Yes, I feel that it is very much like that. And, you know, even the composition of seasoning, the composition of texture. You know in food it is not all about the color, but more about the layers of taste, and the contrast in those layers, from crunchy, to gooey, to salty, to crunchy.
I think in art, the longer you look at a painting, the more you learn things about it. I think of a dish in that way; there is a different way of reflecting on it, especially when it becomes artistic.
JGC: Having the level of cuisine we are talking about here, which is what you create, is a complex thing. Savoring it, literally digesting it into your own body, is another way of internalizing a piece of art. I mean, we can never eat a painting, but it certainly affects your soul. And I have to say that really amazing food absolutely affects you. And, like visual art, the more you know about the technique and the thought behind the process, the more you appreciate it.
Alex Katz: “A graduation to the master!”
JGC: The installation of paintings by Alex Katz has been very well received. Do you have a favorite painting of the four that are on view?
DB: Yes, well since I have been having art in all of my restaurants, I think that Alex Katz is a graduation to the master!
I think the one I like the most is the little tree. Of course, I love the hyacinths and the freshness of the hyacinths and the garden, but the little tree in the prairie, not even a prairie, exactly, but that lonely tree. This is the kind of painting I would love to have at home because I would never get tired of it. This is the kind of painting [that] you can meditate in front of, it will be there for you, and you feel good with it. It’s very special.
JGC: Well, when you look at that painting up close, you can see that there are many layers of color wash in the technique. It’s very sophisticated. It’s a bit deceptive because from afar you think it might be simple.
DB: That’s what I love, the shadowy layers of the color wash. It’s really abstract in a way, but then the tree in the middle of that makes the whole thing work. It’s almost like the preparation of the base was more important than the tree, and then the tree brings a focus to that.
JGC: The painting is almost a pure abstract painting, with a color field, but then when you add the tree, the color field becomes the ground and there is a horizon created with the washes. The tree completely changes the understanding of the painting; what had been “abstract” becomes a landscape.
My Dream: “A studio for myself”
DB: My real dream one day will be to build a studio for myself, and maybe paint for myself. I don’t think it will be for any commercial purpose, just for myself.
JGC: That’s a wonderful thing! Well, in the meantime we are the beneficiaries of all of your creativity! There is so much amazing material here, Daniel, thank you so much.
The Alex Katz and Robert Mapplethorpe installation will be on view at Restaurant DANIEL through August 2023.
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