Art on the Edge
The Celebrity Edge was the first ship in Celebrity Cruises Edge Class of cruise ships. It can accommodate 2,940 passengers and has a crew of 1,377. When the Edge launched in 2019, it cost 1 billon dollars to build – not the most expensive cruise ship ever built, but by far the most costly per passenger cabin to build at $680,000/cabin! Since its launch in 2019, two more Edge Class ships have been added, Apex and Beyond. The fourth ship, Ascent, is scheduled to launch by the end of the year. We cruised on Apex last July and on Beyond in February. Now, we are on Edge for a transatlantic voyage from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona (14 days) then on to southern France and western Italy, ending up in Rome 12 days later.
Because of this trip, the blog’s artist interviews are on hiatus until June 5. Meanwhile, I thought it would be fun and interesting to post about the art on the Edge. The Edge Class ships have some of the most beautiful (and expensive) art collections of contemporary art found on any cruise ship. The art budget for each of the Edge Class ships is $7.5-10.5 million.
Art on the Edge
There are some 4,000 individual pieces of art on display. And by on display, I really mean EVERYWHERE – cabins, corridors, elevators, staircases, restrooms, pools, and of course public venues like restaurants and bars. The collection of photographs, sculptures, ceramics, and mixed media took a team 2 years to curate. The photographs alone are impressive. There are no duplicates and each is an original limited edition print from some of the most well known photographers from around the world. There are 440+ framed photographs in the corridors and elevators alone.
Photograph by Kristian Schuller
Our cabin has 4 large photographs including one above the toilet. The one shown is by famed Romanian fashion photographer Kristian Schuller, who works out of Berlin and New York and studied fashion under Vivian Westwood.
Examples of other photographs and paintings are below.
There are some very impressive and large sculptures and installations around the main pool and pool bar. One in particular is Arion, a life size bronze by British sculptor Sophie Dickens.
Here are some others around the pool including Edge’s iconic butterfly.
And there is the cutest family of penguins around the spa deck!
Distributed around the ship are incredible plywood sculptures by French sculptor Xavier Veilhan. There are 7 in all and they are meant to be interacted with.
You probably already know that I love ceramics. There is an area of the ship called Eden, which features a lot of ‘organic’ art including some very special ‘creatures’ by Israeli artist Zemer Peled. I really want to take one home!
Yes, well, we do spend some time at the Martini Bar. It is in the Grand Plaza and does attract the most interesting people. It is also a wonderful music venue. Plus, it has some incredible art on display. The centerpiece is a 5-foot ‘ice’ sculpture by Fredrikson Stallard.
Here are some more examples of what I think are pretty cool pieces tucked away in corridors and stairwells!
Then there is this spectacular sculpture installation The Ancient Mariner by Kelvin Lowe. It spans several floors and the base dial rotates continuously! Joe and I both think this is maybe our favorite piece.
Avalon, installation on the way to Eden by Fredrikson Stallard
I hope you enjoyed this little art tour. My photography is not the best, but I think you can get a good sense of how impressive the art is on the Edge. As I mentioned, we have also cruised on the Apex and Beyond and the art on those ships is even more spectacular. But that is for another time…
