With a never-ending supply of technological advancements and screens seemingly around every turn, modern life often pulls people away from nature. Fortunately, looking up at the stars never ceases to amaze, especially when a postcard-perfect backdrop and ideal conditions are combined with world-class stargazing facilities.

From remote desert moonscapes to exotic islands, these are the best places on the planet for catching views of galaxies far, far away.

NAMIBIA

Home to the large, arid Namib Desert, windswept Namibia is one of the least densely populated countries on Earth. To get to the remote corner of southern Africa for the perfect spot is a long journey through mesmerizing dunes and rocky outcrops.

When the International Dark-Sky Association, the world’s leading authority recognizing places for their sky quality, formed in 1988, the first reserve to achieve the highest gold-tier status was the NamibRand Nature Reserve, a dazzling, isolated wilderness of rust-colored dunes and sandy plains framed by the Nubib Mountains. Watching the stars sparkling above sand dunes and mountains, accompanied by the occasional animal chorus, guarantees an unforgettable experience.

CALIFORNIA

No U.S. state offers the variety of stargazing opportunities like California. Most notable is Death Valley National Park, a gold-tier International Dark Sky Park where the Milky Way can be spotted with the naked eye. (Only the neon glow of Las Vegas, some 100 miles away, prevents the skies from being even darker.)

A standout among the few lodging options within the massive, 3.4 million-acre park, The Oasis at Death Valley has taken measures to minimize light pollution in the area, providing a great home base for amateur astronomers.

Palm Springs, where several upscale resorts incorporate stargazing into their guest activities, is in close proximity to two International Dark Sky Parks: Joshua Tree National Park and Borrego Springs. Visitors can also enjoy the Rancho Mirage Observatory, which opened in 2018 as the rare observatory built specifically for public use.

Meanwhile, as one of the least visited and darkest national parks, Channel Islands National Park enjoys exceptionally low levels of light pollution from its position off the Southern California coast. The few visitors who make the trek and stay past sundown are rewarded with astounding stargazing opportunities.

In Northern California, Mount Shasta serves as a beacon for stargazers. The intrepid head to rugged Siskiyou County to drive 8,000 feet up—more than halfway to the summit—to appreciate the outdoors after dark. Local outfitters offer nighttime guided stargazing and spiritual hikes, while winter brings custom moonlight snowshoe adventures and the opportunity to ski under the stars at Mt. Shasta Ski Park.

Nearby in the Shasta Cascade region, the city of Redding attracts stargazers thanks to its proximity to Lassen Volcanic National Park, one of the world’s few locations where you can find all four types of volcanoes. The park offers starry-night ranger-led programs as well as the Lassen Dark Sky Festival, a free two-day astronomy festival usually held annually in August, featuring constellation tours, solar scope viewing, and live demonstrations.

Among the state’s myriad destinations for stargazing, none is as famous as the area around Yosemite National Park and the surrounding Mariposa County. Every year around late July or August, stargazers flock to Glacier Point on the south wall of Yosemite Valley to witness the Perseid meteor shower, when stars appear to rain down from the heavens. While summertime visitors to Yosemite take advantage of the multiple star-watching activities offered nightly, others decamp to the Ahwahnee Meadow or El Capitan Meadow, where sheer granite cliffs paint a dramatic landscape against the starry night sky.

TENERIFE

Tenerife, the largest and most populated of the Canaries, is often lauded for its stargazing opportunities. The exceptionally clear and dark skies can be explained by the remote island’s high altitude, proximity to the equator, and distance from tropical storms, not to mention a law restricting flight paths in order to protect stargazing conditions.

Since 1964, the Teide Observatory has been an international hub for solar astronomy from its perch atop its namesake volcano. Teams have arrived from around the world to make new discoveries about the sun using the observatory’s sophisticated telescopes, and fledgling astronomers can enjoy guided observatory tours where guides point out constellations from both hemispheres, meteor showers, and the Summer Triangle. Casual types need only to take a cable car to the top of Mount Teide (Spain’s highest peak) for evening stargazing.

HAWAII

At Hawaii’s Mauna Kea, the tallest point in the state, 13 huge telescopes, including the world’s largest optical telescope, occupy the summit of the dormant volcano, where scientists detect light from distant galaxies thanks to the altitude, clean air, low humidity, and lack of light pollution. Between sunrise and sunset, visitors make the two-hour drive to the 13,796-foot summit to brave the elements and low oxygen levels. Situated at a more manageable 9,200 feet, the well-equipped visitor info center offers free lectures, Q&As, and a chance to peer through 11-, 14-, and 16-inch telescopes.

NEW ZEALAND

With its remote locale and clear skies, the “land of the long white cloud” has long been a mecca for stargazers, particularly the area around the Aoraki Mount Cook National Park on the rugged South Island. One of the world’s largest and most accessible Dark Sky Reserves is found at the Mackenzie Basin, a high-country plateau ringed entirely by mountains from which the Magellanic Clouds and distant dwarf galaxies are visible year-round. The glacial Lake Tekapo is home to the Dark Sky Reserve, a self-proclaimed leader in astrotourism offering a plethora of stargazing activities, including a mountaintop stargazing experience at the world-renowned Mount John Observatory.

The North Island also receives a steady stream of stargazers, many of whom trek to Helena Bay on the remote northeastern coast. There, Helena Bay Lodge offers 800 acres of scenic greenery, four private beaches, and unobstructed views of the night sky.

NEW MEXICO

The desert landscape of the American Southwest has long appealed to amateur sky watchers. Located just outside of Albuquerque, the prehistoric Puebloan place of mystery known as Chaco Culture National Historical Park lets visitors experience the same dark skies the Chacoans observed 1,000 years ago. More than 99% of the park is designated as a natural darkness zone with no permanent outdoor lighting, ensuring the preservation of nocturnal ecosystems. Visitors to Chaco Canyon encounter many solstice and equinox markers, a reminder of how the Chacoans incorporated celestial movements into their architecture, art, and culture.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the world’s great museums and cultural institutions had already utilized technology in varying degrees to make their collections and experiences more accessible to all. But in light of the unprecedented raft of temporary closures, museums have looked to leverage new platforms and applications in order to share their collections with millions.

Though the shift to digital was brought on by the pandemic, it’s here to stay. Many institutions have taken the opportunity to offer new resources geared toward teachers and parents. Now a whole new audience can better enjoy and understand priceless collections across the globe. In response to stay-at-home measures, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) rebranded its website to LACMA @ Home, enabling the public to watch exhibition walkthroughs, read artist interviews and exhibition catalogs, and learn via online courses, lectures, and teaching resources. Unique offerings include LACMA Productions, a series of contemporary artist profile videos made by emerging filmmakers, and curated playlists of global music inspired by recent shows such as “Fiji: Art & Life in the Pacific.”

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., now offers at-home resources including audio and video interviews between its curators and artists such as Alex Katz and Julie Mehretu. Users can listen to lectures, downloadable as podcasts, on any number of topics, from the moon in the age of photography to art history. Educational resources run all the way from prekindergarten to university level and include the NGAkids Art Zone app, which offers myriad interactive activities inspired by works in the museum’s collection. There’s also a sketchbook that lets children make digital artworks based on those in the museum.

Miami’s Bass Museum of Art is one of America’s most tech-savvy institutions, as evidenced by The Bass Squared, a satellite gallery exclusive to Instagram that exhibits art native to the digital realm. During the pandemic, the museum used its regular Instagram page to offer a daily hashtagged art activity known as #CafecitoBreak, an art-based activity from its archive starting at 3:05 p.m. Eastern time. (The city’s area code is 305.) For those who own a virtual reality headset, The Bass offers a VR-compatible exhibit inspired by Ugo Rondinone’s 2018 show “good evening beautiful blue.”

The Art Institute of Chicago had to close its doors only a few short weeks after it launched “El Greco: Ambition and Defiance.” The museum quickly pivoted to move the hotly anticipated exhibit online, allowing the public to take a curator-narrated video tour or explore an interactive feature charting the history of the artist’s 1577 masterpiece The Assumption of the Virgin. Junior curators can use an online “journeymaker” tool to build a personalized museum booklet around themes like superheroes and sleepovers.

Those who have yet to visit Louvre Abu Dhabi can simply head to its website to enjoy a deep dive into the museum’s highlights via audio and video guides. Newly added features include a 360-degree virtual tour of the museum’s latest international exhibition, “Furusiyya: The Art of Chivalry Between East and West,” as well as digital learning resources for teachers and a series of online videos and artistic activities for families and children. The museum’s mobile app contains more than 150 audio clips (available in Arabic, English, French, Mandarin, Russian, German, and Hindi), including curator-led tours.

Museums around the world have followed the standard set by Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, which launched “Rijksmuseum From Home,” a multimedia initiative offering various ways to engage with the collection. Highlights include a series of short videos in which curators discuss their favorite works and “Masterpieces Up Close,” an online platform that lets users tour the museum’s famous Gallery of Honour, home to some of history’s most celebrated paintings, including Rembrandt’s The Night Watch and Vermeer’s The Milkmaid.

The Frick, Henry Clay Frick’s mansion-turned-museum on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, had been due to close temporarily in 2020 for a massive renovation. Ahead of the museum’s closure, it unveiled an intuitive virtual tour of the building, which walks visitors through the evolution of its architecture, with accompanying audio guides available on the museum’s SoundCloud page. In addition to the grand interior spaces, viewers can peruse the museum’s priceless collection of Old Masters, sculpture, porcelain, and furniture.

Artists Sidney Nolan, Winslow Homer, and Hilma af Klint all continue to wield a massive influence over the world of fine art, yet they’re as different from one another as the places that formed them.

One of Australia’s leading artists of the past century, Nolan is often linked with his hometown of Melbourne. Meanwhile, Homer, perhaps America’s most iconic landscape painter, is inextricably linked to coastal Maine. Then there’s af Klint, the Swedish artist and mystic known for her abstract pieces, who lived a life of spiritual yearning in Stockholm.

Here’s a look at how these three artists were inspired by the destinations they’re most associated with.

HILMA AF KLINT’S
STOCKHOLM

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was more than an artist to her devotees. She was something akin to a mystic, one who, according to numerous scholars and academics, was among the first Western artists to produce abstract art. Through striking compositions of shapes and symbols, af Klint presented philosophical and spiritual concepts in physical form on canvas.

She showed an early aptitude for visual art and completed her schooling in Stockholm. She studied at what’s now known as Konstfack (the University of Arts, Crafts, and Design), where she focused on portraits and landscapes, and then the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (among the first European institutions of its kind to admit women). She was awarded a scholarship in the form of a small shared studio in Stockholm and honed her talents working on landscapes, botanical drawings, and portraits.

At the Royal Academy, she met Anna Cassel, the first of the four women with whom she later worked in The Five (De Fem), a group of artists who shared a similar vision and regularly engaged in paranormal activities including organized séances. Through her work with the group, af Klint developed her idiosyncratic style with a keen focus on spirituality.

The secretive artist never knew fame during her lifetime; she refused to show her abstract pieces to her contemporaries and exhibited her works only a handful of times, mainly at spiritual conferences and gatherings. She specified that her work should be kept secret for at least 20 years after her death.

Af Klint’s collection of more than 1,200 abstract paintings is owned and managed by the Hilma af Klint Foundation in Stockholm. The city’s Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art) displays a selection of her works on a continuous basis. Over the years, the museum has broken down the symbolism contained in her work and peeled back the curtains behind her enigmatic persona by hosting exhibitions and events, including the 2019 world premiere of Hilma, an opera about her spiritualistic work and hidden art.

WINSLOW HOMER’S
MAINE

Winslow Homer (1836-1910), a landscape painter and printmaker, remains best known for his marine subjects.

After achieving success—first in commercial illustration, then in oil paintings—with stops in major cities such as New York, Paris, and his hometown of Boston, Homer transitioned over to watercolors and landscapes. In 1881, Homer embarked on an 18-month visit to Cullercoats, a town on the rugged northeastern coast of England, and was deeply affected as he witnessed the residents’ dealings with nature. The artist depicted the town’s fishermen and women as they battled the elements, showing them set against the unforgiving cliffs, rocks, and mountains.

In 1883, Homer moved to Prouts Neck, a fishing village set on a rocky peninsula located within the town of Scarborough, in southern Maine, where he lived in the remodeled carriage house at his family’s oceanfront estate. Over the following years, Homer painted some of his most famous scenes, including Undertow (1886), which depicts a dramatic rescue of two female bathers by two male lifeguards, and Eight Bells (1886), which examines two sailors and their relationship with the sea.

Homer’s original Prouts Neck studio, where he lived and painted until his death in 1910, was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965, and in 2006 it was purchased by the Portland Museum of Art (PMA). After a six-year renovation project that restored the building to how it appeared during Homer’s life, the museum began offering tours to the public. The studio’s most distinct feature is the oceanfront balcony running the width of the building.

The artist created more than a billion dollars worth of art at the studio. Winslow fanatics also flock to the PMA, whose ever-expanding Homer collection spans the artist’s entire career and includes items such as graphite drawings, book illustrations, and wood engravings.

SIDNEY NOLAN’S
MELBOURNE

Widely acknowledged as Australia’s most inventive and influential artist of the 20th century, prolific artist Sidney Nolan (1917-92) remains best known for his paintings of legends from Australian history, most famously Ned Kelly, the notorious bushranger and outlaw. His series of works about Kelly served as meditations on themes of injustice, love, and betrayal, while offering a new depiction of the intimidating Australian landscape.

The fabled Museum Row on Los Angeles’ Miracle Mile soon will be redefined by a jaw-dropping addition: Renzo Piano’s Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

The 300,000-square-foot academy, the nation’s first large-scale museum dedicated exclusively to the art, science, craft, business, and history of film, will be housed in the 1939 May Company Building, a historic landmark at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue. The academy museum is one of more than 120 projects, including the Kansai International Airport Terminal in Osaka, Japan, and the New York Times Building in Manhattan, that the 82-year-old Pritzker Prize-laureate and his Renzo Piano Building Workshop, which has offices in Genoa, Paris, and New York City, have designed over four decades.

The team renovated and restored the interior and exterior of the iconic May building, which has been renamed the Saban, after its benefactors, producer/businessman Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl, who is a former senior advisor to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Piano’s team replaced the Saban’s 1946 additions with an eye-arresting structure they dubbed simply as The Sphere.

The Sphere is a building shaped like a giant ball that hovers off the ground, similar to a spaceship. It features a 1,000-seat theater, a 288-seat theater for special screenings, and a dramatic rooftop terrace facing the iconic Hollywood sign.

“The Sphere building is a form that seems to lift off the ground into the perpetual, imaginary voyage through space and time that is moviegoing,” Piano said in a news release. “By connecting these two experiences, we create something that is itself like a movie. You go from sequence to sequence, from the exhibition galleries to the film theater and the terrace, with everything blending into one experience.”

Noting that there’s a “positive tension” between The Sphere and the Saban, architect Mark Carroll, partner in charge of the project, says that “a big part of the design was to understand the exact distance between them—they stand 40 feet from one another in a dialogue between old and new, memory and history, contemporary and future.”

The spherical shape was chosen, says Luigi Priano, associate in charge, because “it is a clear and identifiable object that detaches and does not compete with the architecture of the Saban. And its circular interior plan is conducive to a compact, participatory seating arrangement with good acoustics and visibility to the projection screen.”

The Sphere, he adds, conveys a “sense of wonder and magic.” Part of that magic comes from the engineering, Carroll says. “It’s isolated from the ground by eight seismic discs that cut the forces of an earthquake and can absorb 30 inches of movement in every direction; this allows the structure of the dome to be incredibly slim, and all this is happening with only four pillars touching the ground.”

As part of the project, the Piano team restored the limestone façade of the Saban, replacing some 35% of its cylinder’s 350,000 gold-leaf mosaic tiles with replicas from the original manufacturer, Orsini of Venice, Italy. The Saban will have three floors of exhibition space, plus a ground floor with a restaurant, gift shop, and gallery.

The idea, Piano says, was to create “an urban and civic character.” It is made of concrete, glass, and steel-reinforced concrete, the same materials Piano used to tie the two buildings together architecturally.

The academy is a repository for everything from ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz to the only surviving shark mold from Jaws. Exhibits will draw from a collection of 12 million photographs, 230,000 moving-image items, 80,000 screenplays, 61,000 posters, and 104,000 pieces of production art.

About a decade ago, Francesca Cartier Brickell went looking for a bottle of Champagne as her family celebrated the 90th birthday of her grandfather, Jean-Jacques Cartier, at his home in the south of France. While rummaging through the wine cellar, she stumbled across a trunk full of old letters that revealed how four generations built the Cartier jewelry business.

The discovery ultimately led to her book, The Cartiers: The Untold Story of the Family Behind the Jewelry Empire, published in November 2019. Cartier Brickell undertook a globetrotting research trip, tracking down key players and uncovering details about how the Cartier brothers kept their business thriving through wars, revolutions, and economic upheaval. “I felt inspired, and even duty-bound, to keep the story alive,” she says. Reside® caught up with the author to find out about her favorite jewelry and fashion-related reads.

Art lovers around the world have long been entranced by the icons Paul Cézanne, Salvadore Dalí, and Jackson Pollock. To fully understand and appreciate these masters, it helps to visit the places that nurtured and continue to display their talents. Each locale is a thrill to visit in its own right; add in these stops and you’ll come away with a newfound artistic education covering some of the art world’s biggest names.

Salvador Dalí’s Madrid
While Salvador Dalí was born in 1904 near the French border in Catalonia and spent his formative years there, the titan of Spanish surrealism casts an imposing shadow over Madrid.

In 1922, Dalí moved into the city’s Residencia de Estudiantes (Students’ Residence) and studied at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando. Today, both facilities are open to visitors looking to delve deeper into the artist’s background; the Residencia de Estudiantes, one of the oldest cultural centers in Madrid, hosts myriad conferences, panel discussions, concerts, poetry readings, and exhibitions.

The Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía allows Dalí fans to mix with Picasso lovers; the museum holds world-class collections from Spain’s two greatest 20th-century masters.

In 1985, the Madrid City Council decided to dedicate a public space to Dalí and commissioned the artist to create a work for the space. The Plaza de Salvador Dalí is dominated by the only urban monument in the world designed by the artist, a hulking granite dolmen (a single-chamber megalithic tomb). Within the 43-foot structure, in which an oval-shaped natural rock was placed on three carved granite pillars, resides a bronze sculpture of an abstract, masculine figure standing on a pedestal of polished black granite.

Visitors looking to tap into Dalí’s mind can stop by the Westin Palace Madrid, a historic property that was commissioned by King Alfonso XIII in 1912. Back when it was known as the Hotel Palace, Dalí enjoyed jazz nights with friends and preferred to stay in the suites overlooking the iconic Fuente de Neptuno (Neptune Fountain); the artist was notorious for making elaborate demands of the staff. Today, visitors to the hotel, which sits in the shadow of one of the world’s most famous art museums, the Museo del Prado, can enjoy a cocktail in the 1912 Museo Bar. (A case next to the bar holds a piece of hotel stationery bearing a note and poem penned by Federico García Lorca, and embellished with doodles by Dalí.)