The busy summer in Aspen, an American ski resort.

Although it was the end of July, Aspen, located in the Colorado Mountains of the United States at an altitude of more than 2,000 meters, was neither too hot nor too cold, and the climate was very pleasant. In the mansion of Amy, the former cheerleader of the dallas cowboys team, and John Phelan, the husband of the financier, guests in fashionable clothes shuttled back and forth to admire the Phelan couple's art collection from floor to ceiling. When an oriental lady saw me, she immediately jumped up from the crowd, unable to hide her excitement and asked me where I came from. She confessed to me that after living in Aspen for 20 years, she rarely saw oriental faces, let alone this art charity dinner with a price of $2,500 per person and a hard-to-find ticket.

This is the prelude to the three-day charity fundraising event "Wine Crush" of Aspen Art Museum. Hosted by the collector Amy Phelan, you can enjoy the delicious food prepared by Caribou Club and the top wines specially selected by sommelier Jay Fletcher for each dish for only $2,500. It coincides with the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the Art Museum, and the 40th anniversary is a ruby wedding, so Wine Crush decided to take ruby as the theme. For female guests, red evening dresses are readily available, while male guests have to test their creative ability and try their best to make up for their lack of clothes with red suede shoes, red ties and red glasses frames.

The next afternoon, the gallery first arranged a lecture on the top floor for Lisa Yuskavage, an American painter who won this year's Aspen Art Award, and then the Preview Crush, jointly organized by Baldwin and Casterline|Goodman galleries, was open to everyone for free, giving everyone a chance to enjoy 65 works that will participate in the charity auction the next day. The artists who donated their works ranged from millionaire Yuskavage to the younger generation of street artist Hebru Brantley, with prices ranging from more than 2,000 dollars to hundreds of thousands of dollars, providing people with different financial resources with a variety of choices.

The finale of the event was the art crushing auction and dinner held on the third day in Cream Mountain, one of the four famous mountains in Aspen. The ticket prices are 1875 USD, 3 125 USD and 4375 USD respectively. The higher the price, the better the wine on the table. The event began with wine tasting and silent art auction. At the dinner, Oliver Barker, an auctioneer at Sotheby's, presided over the live auction. A total of 65,438+065,438+0 works were auctioned on the spot, among which the most competitive one was the watercolor painting Focus III by Sam Cosorian in 2065,438+04, which fetched $65,438+085,000 from the estimated price of $80,000. In addition, Juska Wagner's oil painting Melo in 2008 also soared from the estimated price of $325,000 to $450,000.

This year's activities raised a total of $2.3 million. Of course, compared with the new york Met Gala Charity Dinner, which raised $654.38+05 million overnight, 2.3 million seems insignificant. However, the Aspen Art Museum, which covers an area of 33,000 square feet and has a history of only 40 years, has raised more than 30 million US dollars since 2005. In contrast, a metropolis with a history of 149, more than 2 million collections and an area of 2.2 million square feet not only provides funds for the museum's curation and education, but also has enough funds for Japanese architect Sakamoto to complete the new project five years ago. The success of this Zuckerman is that her activities combine Aspen's perfect match: art, wine and food. No matter where they spend their holidays, the super-rich will expect to have a unique experience, taste the best wine and food, and have the opportunity to socialize with other rich people while enjoying the beautiful scenery. Like the Phelan couple, many super-rich people who participate in fund-raising activities live in new york and San Francisco all the year round, and only spend a few weeks in Aspen's multi-million dollar villa during holidays. Art Crush just arranged the best social opportunities for them.

Most art shredders without holiday villas will choose the five-star Nell Hotel in Aspen or the antique St. The Regess Hotel. Apart from luxury and comfort, these two hotels are quite distinctive. Little Nell's Element 47 restaurant not only has more than 2,000 wine lists, but also has a wine cellar with more than 20,000 bottles of wine. Since 1997, the restaurant has won the wine observer award for 23 consecutive years. Among the sommeliers in America 182, 1 1 actually works here. Although the RuiJ Hotel, located halfway up the mountain, has no cellar for storing more than 20,000 bottles of wine, the champagne carnival ceremony at 5: 0015 every afternoon is quite impressive. Rui also has a fur housekeeper who specializes in serving tenants' dogs. In addition, Reggie's Remde Spa in Aspen was also named the number one hotel spa in the world by Travel and Leisure magazine.

In addition to artistic activities, Aspen has a long history of music festivals and schools in summer. There are not only performances by soprano Rene Fleming, pianist Effem Bronfman and other stars, but also more than 600 music students from more than 40 countries who come to learn from their teachers. Wang Yujia used to be a student here. 13-year-old piano genius Zhu Renhe has been taking classes here since he was 8 years old. For those who like nature, Shan Ye in summer is covered with blue agave, pink wild rose and purple Fei Lian, plus winding poplars, firs and spruces, which is very suitable for hiking. Adventurers can climb mountains, ride mountain roads, or go boating and surfing. People who like moderate exercise can do yoga at the top of the mountain in the morning, or let experts from the Nature Research Center lead them to learn about alpine plants, animals and birds on foot. The local rivers and lakes are rich in trout and suitable for fishing. In addition, the Little Nell Hotel offers outdoor photography courses led by National Geographic photographer Andrea Booher during the day and state-of-the-art binoculars at night. Astronomical experts will take you to the top of the mountain to see the meteor shower, the moon and different constellations.

Unlike sleeping sickness in summer that many ski resorts have to face, Aspen's summer lasts only one or two months, but it attracts countless intellectuals who love art, wine and food, explorers who like nature and talented musicians. Judging from the number of private jets parked at the airport, in Aspen, the highest end is not only the 4,300-meter-high Brownbell Peak, but also the people who know how to enjoy it the most.