Through her company, Adventures in Art, Karen Stone Talwar designs luxury cultural travel experiences centered on art and architecture.
A Palm Beach resident with a passion for art and travel has built a global luxury travel company that offers behind-the-scenes cultural experiences.
Karen Stone Talwar, who has worked in the global art world for decades, founded Adventures in Art to create curated journeys centered on art, architecture and design for museum visitors, collectors and cultural travelers.
The company organizes small-group “signature” trips for individual travelers as well as museum-led programs offering access to private collections, curator-led tours and cultural institutions.
The company frequently hosts trips to France, Italy, India, Mexico, U.S. sites and other destinations, with group sizes ranging from about 12 travelers on signature programs to more than 20 for museum-based tours.
Talwar said the idea for her company, founded in 2011, grew out of her approach to travel and the thrill of discovering art and sharing it with others.
“I love to travel,” she said. “And when I travel, I am always like: What are the new exhibits? What are the new galleries? Is there art in the hotel lobby? It was taking a product to people who really wanted to do similar, to travel the world.”
Adventures in Art builds itineraries around what Talwar calls “signature moments,” including private-home dinners, artist-studio visits and expert-led lectures that provide context before site visits. She also likes to give people early access to museums, so they can avoid crowds.
She said the company handles all logistics, including accommodations, dining, transportation and scheduling, so guests can focus on the experience.
Itineraries often focus on major exhibitions or cultural events, with added context to provide greater insight, Talwar said. Some trips include private lectures or discussions ahead of site visits to help travelers better understand the artists, collections or historical significance of what they will see.
She said the goal is to offer a more immersive experience than traditional sightseeing.
“We’re going to people’s private homes for dinners,” she said. “We’re going to an artist’s studio. We’re having lunch in the artist’s studio.”
A visit to the Louvre in Paris, she adds, might be scheduled on a day when the access to the museum is restricted to the general public “so you are there without the crowds. We’re sometimes going to private clubs in various cities that we have access to. When we do take tours of various museums, the director will greet us or give the tour. The curator will be there. It’s a specific focus.”
Talwar, who grew up in the suburbs of Boston, spent much of her adult life in New York City and later lived in Paris, Switzerland and London. She has worked with Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Asia Society and Christie’s Travel in London.
Adventures in Art also works with museums and institutions to design custom trips for trustees, donors and collectors, often built around exhibitions or specific collections.
In Palm Beach, the company has organized architecture tours and visits to museums and private homes, along with waterfront boat tours highlighting historic properties on the island.
“We’ll do a driving architecture tour down Worth Avenue,” she said. “We’ll go down El Brillo Way and the side streets. At the time, we used to go by Mar-a-Lago, and then we would come back and go toward (The Church of) Bethesda-by-the-Sea. We would go to the Garden of Bethesda and then to where The Breakers is.”
The company continues to expand its global schedule, with upcoming trips planned across Europe, the United States and beyond, while maintaining its focus on small-group, curated cultural travel.
“There is a great desire to travel like this,” she said.
More information about Adventures in Art is available at the company’s website, AdventuresInArt.com.
Jodie Wagner is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at jwagner@pbdailynews.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.
