MA is the product of the partners’ passion for art and design, and our commitment to social and environmental awareness. Monte Azul is conceived as a center for art and design where artists can pursue their craft, and where collectors could better understand the artists’ work and process, as well as a first class travel destination for those who seek an exceptional travel experience.

The Monte Azul Preserve, a serene 100 acres in the Talamanca Mountains of southern Costa Rica, just minutes from Chirripó National Park, offers an exceptional environment where invited artists stay and work, and pursue their craft using environmentally friendly techniques.

Surrounded by mountains, forests, rivers and creeks, as well as an incredible variety of plants and animals, guests at the onsite boutique hotel enjoy everything that nature has to offer. Monte Azul also offers guest an opportunity to appreciate how nature can have a profound effect on us and, even without any formal art background, they can all appreciate how the experience they are having is expressed in art.

We have witnessed firsthand how the peace and solitude of this place, amid the enormity of life emanating from the surrounding primary rainforest, has led to new directions and experimentation in our resident artists’ work.

More importantly, the magic of the surrounding nature extends to all guests who come for relaxation and rejuvenation. It is truly like nothing else.

The Monte Azul Preserve, was a dairy farm in its previous life. Saved due to the steepness of the mountainside, however, is a large tract of primary forest. In fact, this is one of the outer reaches of the largest forest in Central America, the Talamanca Forest. This vast forest is home to almost 5% of all the animal and plant species on the planet.

Since Monte Azul has begun regenerating pasture into forest as well as actively combating poachers, the rebound in nature has been astounding. From the return of the Ring Neck Peccary, the Sloth and the Tepescuintles, as well as the boom in the Capuchin Monkey population, we are pleased to have extended scarce and invaluable range for these and other amazing creatures.

Equally important is our desire to change the experience for art collectors as well. We hoped to move away from the impersonal and sometimes sterile gallery experience, and create a way for collectors to build a greater understanding of the artist’s process and inspirations. We seek to build a center for art where collectors can meet with artists in the studio space, and are able to discuss the artists work in a more casual, social setting. Ultimately, our goal is to facilitate an experience that makes the process of art appreciation, understanding, and collection far more intimate and rewarding for seasoned art collectors as well as for the uninitiated.

Central to that process is the curated Monte Azul luxury hotel suites. The stylish accommodations house art available for purchase which are produced by artists on site through MACA’s (Monte Azul Contemporary Art) artist in residence program. It is an opportunity to get acquainted with the work in a more intimate environment, to see the work in various lights and to experience it 'in a home-like setting' without any sales pressure which can get in the way of simply enjoying the work.