The Most Artful Dining Rooms from the Galerie Archives

Spaces conjured by Gil Schafer, Steven Gambrel, Amy Lau, and more elevate every meal to a work of art

Elegant dining room with a long table, teal chairs, artwork, and a cozy fireplace, decorated in a modern style.
A dining room designed by Steven Gambrel. Photo: ERIC PIASECKI
For collectors, the environment in which one eats is as important as the meal being served. Dining rooms are, therefore, not only inviting spaces to gather and entertain, but also important backdrops to display visually arresting, thought-provoking artworks. Out of all the rooms in a home, it is for these reasons that the dining room is so often chosen for site-specific commissions, enhanced by bespoke light fixtures and eye-catching seating to fully appreciate these pieces. Combing through Galerie’s archives, we’ve gathered inspiring dining rooms reflecting a wide array of design sensibilities, from spaces that are all about architecture to those in which the art takes center stage.

For collectors, the environment in which one eats can sometimes be more important than the meal being served. Dining rooms are, therefore, not only inviting spaces to gather and entertain but also crucial backdrops to display visually arresting, thought-provoking works of art. It is for these reasons that out of all the rooms in a home the dining room is so often chosen for site-specific commissions, enhanced by bespoke light fixtures and eye-catching seating to fully appreciate these pieces. Combing through Galerie’s archives, we’ve selected inspiring dining spaces that reflect a wide array of design sensibilities, from interiors that are all about architecture to those in which the art takes center stage.

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Discover the Most Artful Dining Rooms from the <i>Galerie</i> Archives

In the dining room of the prewar Park Avenue residence designed by Peter Pennoyer, a Hervé Van der Straeten chandelier descends from the gold-leaf ceiling alcove that Pennoyer created above the Hutton Home table and chairs in the style of Carlo Mollino made by Jouffre; Studio Glustin sconces frame an artwork by Cecil Touchon over the Calacatta Vagli marble fireplace with Holly Hunt andirons.

Photograph by ERIC PIASECKI. STYLED BY ANNE FOXLEY

For the Galerie House of Art and Design, Ellen Hamilton sheathed the dining room walls in a beautiful shade of terra cotta courtesy of the Paint Laboratory, which also provided the vivid blue and sunny gold that accents the space. Furnishings from Maison Gerard, including a spacious dining table and leggy chairs, are coupled with tableware from Sud New Orleans, Astier de Villatte, and Hermès. A fireplace enhanced with materials from ABC Stone is surrounded by an exceptional art collection, which includes pieces by Claire Tabouret and Natalie Frank.

Photograph by Genevieve Garruppo

Art adviser John Wolf collaborated with designer and long-time friend Adam Bram Straus to revamp a home nestled in the Hollywood Hills. Lush plants drape a wall along the dining terrace, where Pierre Jeanneret chairs surround a teak table accented with Kelly Lamb sculptures.
 

Photograph by DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN

Marmol Radziner helped to bring cool, sexy modernism to the art-filled California home of Museo Jumex founder Eugenio López Alonso. A 16-foot-wide Andreas Gursky photograph of a Frankfurt airport terminal spans a wall in the dining area, while a Cy Twombly blackboard-style painting hangs along the nearby stairs.
 

Photograph by JOSE MANUEL ALORDA

Caleb Anderson, partner in New York design firm Drake/Anderson deftly mixes old and new inside his lovingly restored prewar apartment. Anderson installed an antique Louis XVI Baccarat chandelier above the dining area’s custom-crafted spider marble table, which is bordered on one side by Willy Rizzo chairs and on the other by a banquette upholstered in an Élitis fabric matched to the Benjamin Moore currant-red paint used on the paneled walls and ceiling. The painting is by Elise Ansel, the wall sconces are by Remains Lighting, and the candle holders are vintage Tommi Parzinger.

Photograph by STEPHEN KENT JOHNSON

Victoria Hagan and Ferguson & Shamamian Architects crafted a refreshing Shingle-style Southampton escape with a stylishly laid-back interior filled with spirited contemporary artworks. In the dining room, a Hudson Furniture lighting fixture hangs over the Victoria Hagan Collections table and Poltrona Frau chairs, while a Liaigre sconce surmounts a Cocobolo sideboard. The sculpture of colorful orbs is by Annie Morris, and a Tinatin Kilaberidze bench from Valerie Goodman Gallery sits beneath a multipart work by Song Dong.

Photograph by ANDREW FRASZ

The fanciful Brussels residence crafted by Madrid-based designer Lorenzo Castillo rejuvenates a family’s historic townhouse with a lively mix of old and new. A 1920s Baguès chandelier hovers above the conservatory’s dining table, which is surrounded by Maison Jansen chairs and topped with 1960s Christian Dior silver candlesticks with ostrich egg bases.

Photograph by RICARDO LABOUGLE

Known for her glamorous work for the Hôtel de Crillon and Le Jules Verne, architect Aline Asmar d’Amman composed an art- and design-filled sanctuary in gradations of neutrals and shimmering metallics for her family in Paris. Vintage Murano glass vases join a triple-tier centerpiece once owned by Karl Lagerfeld atop the Colosso table in Arabescato marble by Victoria Wilmotte, with vintage Carlo de Carli chairs. The cabinet on the left displays a sculptural ceramic mirror by Agnès Debizet.

Photograph by MATTHIEU SALVAING

The ongoing collaboration between art adviser Erica Samuels and designer Fawn Galli has produced an exuberant Upper East Side apartment. In the dining room, vintage rosewood chairs surround a vintage table and a work by Friedrich Kunath hangs above a large ceramic vessel by Kazunori Hamana.

Photograph by GENEVIEVE GARRUPPO. STYLED BY LILI ABIR REGEN

Kallos Turin transformed a 1940s Neoclassical townhouse in Buenos Aires, welcoming elegance with animating art and design elements that read as anything but traditional. In the dining area, an Apparatus fixture descends over the steel table and velvet-clad B&B Italia chairs, where Kallos and Turin designed the long, black-stained oak sideboard. The walls are Venetian stucco, the curtains are a Pierre Frey linen, and the artwork is by Pablo Siquier.

Photograph by RICARDO LABOUGLE

A 1920s Newport Beach home designed James Magni reimagines the California residence by maximizing waterfront views and carving out space for attention-grabbing works. In the dining room, Magni Home Collection pendants are installed above the Holly Hunt table and DLV Designs chairs, where a large Mark Grotjahn painting adds dynamic splashes of color. Works on paper by Joyce Pensato flank the window seat, and a Jeff Koons porcelain vase perches on the custom-made cerused-oak cabinetry with Rocky Mountain Hardware pulls.

Photograph by MANOLO LANGIS

Designer Penny Drue Baird teamed up with architect David Scott Parker to create a custom-tailored country retreat in the Berkshires. The dining area’s double-height curtains in a Holland & Sherry fabric make a bold impression, as does the Ralph Pucci light fixture over the custom table and chairs. The artwork is by Franz Gertsch, and the floor lamp next to the fireplace is by Promemoria.

Photograph by TREVOR TONDRO

Thomas Jayne thoughtfully updated a traditional Houston home packed with modern works, Old Masters, and avian prints. Gracie wallpaper panels provide a richly toned backdrop for a 17th-century Dutch still life in the dining room, where Jayne reupholstered the owners’ George III and Adam-style chairs with seats of embossed leather; the curtains were made in a Claremont fabric with embroidered trim by Simon Peers.

Photograph by PÄR BENGTSSON

Specially commissioned abstract panels by Kim MacConnel wrap around the dining room of architect William T. Georgis’s La Jolla, California, residence; Gregorius | Pineo chandeliers are installed over a midcentury Edward Wormley table with figurines by Josefina Aguilar and vintage Dorothy Schindele chairs.

Photograph by Roger Davies

Korean artist Chun Kwang Young created the three-dimensional work in the dining area of a Palm Springs home designed by architecture firm Marmol Radziner in collaboration with architect and designer Sophie Harvey. The chandelier is by David Weeks Studio, and the dining chairs are vintage Milo Baughman designs; a 1950s Italian mirror from Wyeth hangs above a custom-made credenza by Hudson Furniture.

Photograph by Roger Davies

Edward Yedid of Grade Architecture and Interior Design and his partner, architect Thomas Hickey, were the forces behind this New York pied-à-terre for a Brazilian family. The dining room evokes the feeling of a waterfall with a custom petal canopy by Grade supporting a WonderGlass chandelier. Below, Warren Platner armchairs encircle a custom glass-and-bronze table situated on a Scott Group Studio rug. The George Condo painting is surrounded by a Rogan Gregory wall installation.

Photograph by Richard Powers

Amy Lau designed this vibrant Hamptons retreat for collector Clarissa Bronfman and her family. Her husband, Edgar Bronfman Jr., pushed for the pink wall color (Benjamin Moore’s Blushing Bride), which serves as a jubilant backdrop for Hsiao-Chi Tsai and Kimiya Yoshikawa’s Blooming Spark I hanging light in the dining room. Works by Hiroshi Sugimoto flank a piece by Julio Le Parc.

Photograph by THOMAS LOOF

Architect Adam Charlap Hyman, principal of the firm Charlap Hyman & Herrero, helped seamlessly blend gallerist Tina Kim’s collection of vintage furniture and blue-chip art in her Upper West Side townhouse. In the main dining area, a wall-size aluminum installation by Jean Prouvé counterbalances a high-contrast acrylic work by abstract painter Wook-Kyung Choi.

Photograph by TIMOTHY DOYON

Steven Gambrel designed this palatial Greenwich Village home with frequent collaborator Henry Jessup, who was the project architect. Vintage Belgian lights descend from a verre églomisé ceiling by Miriam Ellner in the dining room, where Gambrel designed the rosewood tables with gold-lacquered tops, the chairs, and the long console with a Belgian Black top by Lido Stone; a Sam Francis painting on paper (left) and a series of Cy Twombly lithographs are mounted on leather wall panels by Michele Costello.

Photograph by ERIC PIASECKI

Architect Steve Giannetti and Anna Busta of Busta Studio designed this modern home in La Quinta, near Palm Springs. The main living and dining area opens up dramatically to the outdoors, where a spiraling Bruce Beasley sculpture stands next to the swimming pool. Busta installed an Alison Berger lighting fixture over the red-lacquered Liaigre table and chairs opposite a seating area where a Holly Hunt sofa and chairs surround a Liaigre cocktail table.

Photograph by NIKOLAS KOENIG

A Brice Marden painting anchors the dining room of a Palm Beach home designed by Aman & Meeks; the table was custom made with mother-of-pearl inlay, the chairs are a Frances Elkins design, the ceiling is clad in Gracie silver tea-leaf paper, and a pair of 1930s Serge Roche plaster torchères stand at the door.

Photograph by DOUGLAS FRIEDMAN

Isamu Noguchi designed the white beechwood table in this Maine residence to resemble a ship’s hull. Burned in a fire in the late 1990s, the piece was re-created by sculptor and woodworker Mark Loftus. The vintage 1940s chairs are by Charles and Ray Eames.

Photograph by TRIA GIOVAN

The dining area of artist Vik Muniz’s Paris apartment, designed by BW Architects, features a trio of Louis Poulsen pendants, which are playfully paired with Eames chairs by Herman Miller; the collage is by Muniz.

Photograph by Richard Powers

Artist Adam Pendleton created an immersive wall work, titled Black Lives Matter, for the dining room of his friend Andrea Glimcher’s apartment, designed by architect Alan Wanzenberg. “It’s extraordinarily moving, prompting significant and forward-moving conversations during dinner,” the art advisor says. Already the work has been lent to museums in New Orleans, Cleveland, and Detroit; an exhibition copy is made and installed for the duration of a show.

Photograph by Richard Powers

Manhattan art dealer Marianne Boesky tapped architect Deborah Berke to revamp her Chelsea apartment. In the dining room, Italian chairs from the 1960s surround the vintage table. The vintage mercury-glass canister pendants are by Rogan Gregory, the sculpture is by William J. O’Brien, and a butterfly painting by Damien Hirst hangs above a Kevin Walz daybed from Ralph Pucci.

Photograph by WILLIAM WALDRON

Francis Sultana designed this San Francisco loft for collector Shaari Ergas. A Serge Mouille light fixture branches out above the dining area’s Zaha Hadid table and Franz West chairs; the work between the windows is by Allora & Calzadilla, the figurative painting is by Chantal Joffe, and a Milena Muzquiz vessel perches on the table.

Photograph by PETER BAKER

Architect Gil Schafer paired his clients’ Regency dining table and chairs in this Fifth Avenue apartment with an Austrian chandelier from Niall Smith Antiques and a canvas by Graham Gillmore; the decorative wall treatment is by John Weidl Associates.

Photograph by ERIC PIASECKI

Designer Charlie Ferrer modernized his parents’ Connecticut home using a compelling mix of periods and styles. In the dining room, a gray-blue-lacquered credenza and Persian Tabriz rug play off the panels of Gracie wall covering that turn the space into an Arcadian reverie. These elements provide a lovely backdrop for the imposing corner armchair and the graphic French 1950s dining chairs that dance around the Directoire table.

Photograph by JOSHUA MCHUGH

Paintings by Israel Lund encircle the dining room of a Hamptons home designed by Dara Stern and Robert A.M. Stern Architects. A Fortuny light fixture also hangs in the space above a custom-made table by Classic Cabinets and chairs by Luther Quintana; the suede chair fabric and cowhide rug are by Dualoy.

Photograph by ERIC PIASECKI. STYLED BY PHILIPPA BRATHWAITE
Elegant dining room with turquoise walls, marble fireplace, round table with yellow flowers, and gold-accented chandelier.
Colorful dining room with eclectic art, wooden table and chairs, vibrant flowers, and a modern chandelier.
Outdoor dining area with wooden table and chairs, surrounded by lush greenery and a well-stocked bar cart.
Modern dining room with oval table, white chairs, flower centerpiece, large blue wall art, and a gray rug.
Luxurious red dining room with marble table, red seats, crystal chandelier, and abstract paintings on the walls.
Modern dining room with a long table, stylish chairs, colorful art, unique chandelier, and view of garden through large windows.
Elegant dining room with a long table, pink flowers, glassware, chandeliers, and large windows with greenery outside.
Elegant dining room with a marble table, wooden chairs, large mirrors, chandeliers, and ornate dark cabinets.
Dining room with a large rectangular table, yellow chair, modern chandelier, colorful curtains, and a landscape painting.
Modern dining room with long table, blue chairs, abstract art on wall, and a large window with beige curtains.
Modern dining room with large wooden table, white chairs, abstract wall art, and sunlight streaming through windows.
Dining room with long wooden table, red curtains, stone walls, and large framed art above a fireplace.
Elegant dining room with a wooden table set for a meal, surrounded by chairs, chandelier, and art on the wall.
Colorful dining room with abstract wall art, black table, modern chandelier, and chairs facing large windows with greenery outside.
Modern dining room with high ceiling, wooden accents, large wall art, and a long dining table with white chairs.
Modern dining room with round table, contemporary chairs, abstract artwork, and minimalist decor.
In a Hamptons home that Clarissa Bronfman designed with Amy Lau, the pink wall color serves as a jubilant backdrop for Hsiao-Chi Tsai and Kimiya Yoshikawa’s Blooming Spark I hanging light in the dining room. Works by Hiroshi Sugimoto flank a piece by Julio Le Parc.
Modern dining room with wooden chairs, large table, tall ceiling, and abstract artwork on walls. Bright and airy atmosphere.
Elegant dining room with teal chairs, large wooden table, artwork on walls, fireplace, and reflective ceiling.
Spacious open living room with red dining table, modern decor, large windows, mountain view, and outdoor pool.
Elegant dining room with white chairs, a large abstract painting on the wall, and a decorative chandelier above the table.
Mid-century modern dining room with unique table, wooden ceiling, large window, yellow curtains, and parquet flooring.
Dining room with colorful chairs, wooden table, modern pendant lights, large abstract painting, and window view of greenery.
Modern dining room with abstract black and white wall art, glass table, pink flowers, and black pendant light.
Modern dining room with glass table, wooden chairs, hanging lights, and a large butterfly artwork on a blue wall.
Modern dining room with abstract art, white chairs around a glass table, and large windows with patterned curtains.
Elegant dining room with dark red walls, wooden furniture, a chandelier, modern art, and a large window with red curtains.
Elegant dining room with floral wallpaper, oval wooden table, modern chairs, large round mirror, and natural light from windows.
Elegant dining room with round table, beige chairs, chandelier, and colorful wall art.
Elegant dining room with turquoise walls, marble fireplace, round table with yellow flowers, and gold-accented chandelier.
Colorful dining room with eclectic art, wooden table and chairs, vibrant flowers, and a modern chandelier.
Outdoor dining area with wooden table and chairs, surrounded by lush greenery and a well-stocked bar cart.
Modern dining room with oval table, white chairs, flower centerpiece, large blue wall art, and a gray rug.
Luxurious red dining room with marble table, red seats, crystal chandelier, and abstract paintings on the walls.
Modern dining room with a long table, stylish chairs, colorful art, unique chandelier, and view of garden through large windows.
Elegant dining room with a long table, pink flowers, glassware, chandeliers, and large windows with greenery outside.
Elegant dining room with a marble table, wooden chairs, large mirrors, chandeliers, and ornate dark cabinets.
Dining room with a large rectangular table, yellow chair, modern chandelier, colorful curtains, and a landscape painting.
Modern dining room with long table, blue chairs, abstract art on wall, and a large window with beige curtains.
Modern dining room with large wooden table, white chairs, abstract wall art, and sunlight streaming through windows.
Dining room with long wooden table, red curtains, stone walls, and large framed art above a fireplace.
Elegant dining room with a wooden table set for a meal, surrounded by chairs, chandelier, and art on the wall.
Colorful dining room with abstract wall art, black table, modern chandelier, and chairs facing large windows with greenery outside.
Modern dining room with high ceiling, wooden accents, large wall art, and a long dining table with white chairs.
Modern dining room with round table, contemporary chairs, abstract artwork, and minimalist decor.
In a Hamptons home that Clarissa Bronfman designed with Amy Lau, the pink wall color serves as a jubilant backdrop for Hsiao-Chi Tsai and Kimiya Yoshikawa’s Blooming Spark I hanging light in the dining room. Works by Hiroshi Sugimoto flank a piece by Julio Le Parc.
Modern dining room with wooden chairs, large table, tall ceiling, and abstract artwork on walls. Bright and airy atmosphere.
Elegant dining room with teal chairs, large wooden table, artwork on walls, fireplace, and reflective ceiling.
Spacious open living room with red dining table, modern decor, large windows, mountain view, and outdoor pool.
Elegant dining room with white chairs, a large abstract painting on the wall, and a decorative chandelier above the table.
Mid-century modern dining room with unique table, wooden ceiling, large window, yellow curtains, and parquet flooring.
Dining room with colorful chairs, wooden table, modern pendant lights, large abstract painting, and window view of greenery.
Modern dining room with abstract black and white wall art, glass table, pink flowers, and black pendant light.
Modern dining room with glass table, wooden chairs, hanging lights, and a large butterfly artwork on a blue wall.
Modern dining room with abstract art, white chairs around a glass table, and large windows with patterned curtains.
Elegant dining room with dark red walls, wooden furniture, a chandelier, modern art, and a large window with red curtains.
Elegant dining room with floral wallpaper, oval wooden table, modern chairs, large round mirror, and natural light from windows.
Elegant dining room with round table, beige chairs, chandelier, and colorful wall art.