A tour of the 400 pieces of art which grace a five-star hotel on the Costa del Sol

Before you even enter the doors to the five-star Higuerón Hotel, located in the municipality of Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, you are met with a customised Rolls-Royce and an enormous 2.35-metre-high wooden sculpture sat on an oval platform. In its day, the luxury vehicle was owned by the American embassy and legend has it that it also used to be owned by film director Alfred Hitchcock. It now sports a design by the famous graffiti artist Darko. The sculpture is a work of Francisco Leiro, one of the most famous living sculptors at the moment, running workshops in New York, Madrid and Galicia, his home region.

This luxury hotel makes its intentions clear, as when you are inside, the works of art are displayed in every room. There are approximately one hundred, spread across common areas. We also have to mention the original lithographs by Enrique Brinkmann, which decorate each of the 290 hotel rooms.

The owner, Javier Rodríguez, is an avid art-lover and wanted to convert this space into a type of gallery or a museum. It is now open to the general public through guided tours around the collection that are organised every month. So far they have done three of these, which have been a success, with hotel guests, members of the hotel, and locals taking part.

It could be said that the Spanish painter Enrique Brinkmann is idolised in the hotel. His works, as well as appearing in every room, are spread throughout the hotel's facilities, where you can practically see every creative stage of this artist's career. Not only has he had the privilege of having an exhibition at the MOMA in New York, he also happened to be a senator for Malaga in the first term of democracy.

His relationship with the hotel has been ongoing for a while and continues with various new initiatives. The next being a visit to his art studio by six art students sponsored by the owner of the Higuerón.

For the moment, the company is not revealing the total value of the artwork in the hotel for security reasons. Although they do point out some of the most valuable pieces, including some sculptures by Leiro, made from chestnut wood, with a height of 3.25 metres, and are called Sayón 1 and Sayón 2. Another highly valuable work is a painting by Lita Cabellut, which mimicks features from the Camarón de la Isla.

The beauty of this collection lies in the variety in styles that make up the collection, including the graffiti by Darko, Lalone or El Alfil which decorates the walls of corridors and rooms. Another unique part of the collection is the amusing gaze of Gerard Mas, who places his classic sculptures in situations that have no correlation with the context, such as his rocking chair for children placed in one of the hotel's lounges, or his ladies chewing gum found at the top of some stairs. The route also stops by the self-portrait by Paco Pepe Posadas, the 'Eclipse' and the 'Revelation' by Suso de Marco, or the lithographs of Antoni Tàpies.

None of these works are for sale, except for some of the lithographs by Brinkmann, but the hotel still organises temporary exhibitions for a specific artist from time to time, where they exhibit and sell their own works.