For more than 25 years Vik Muniz, the Brazilian conceptual artist, has made regular trips to Salvador, a port city that is the capital of the countrys Bahia region. He and his wife Malu Barretto, who are based in Rio de Janeiro and New York, have always loved the coastal town for its animated civic life and vibrant blend of music, gastronomy, religion, art, and architecture.Culturally speaking, Salvador is the most interesting place in Brazil, in my opinion, says Muniz, a native of So Paulo who is acclaimed for his photographic recreations of iconic images using unexpected materials such as chocolate syrup, toys, and garbage. Its a pan-African mecca, really.Ricardo LabougleMalu Barretto and Vik Muniz stroll along their homes street in Salvador, the capital of Brazils Bahia region.Muniz and Barretto, an events planner, are now actively participating in Salvadors cultural landscape. They recently restored a 19th-century cliffside rowhouse in Santo Antnio Alm do Carmo, a residential neighborhood perched high above the Bay of All Saints. A three-minute walk from their house, with rooms for when their four children visit, is another historic building they have renovated. This annex houses an entertaining space with a veranda overlooking the water, Munizs office and art atelier, a music studio for their oldest child, and three small apartments they offer to friends. We consider this an extension of the house, Muniz says.Culturally speaking, Salvador is the most interesting place in Brazil."Brenda Bello, a New Yorkbased architect who designed the couples apartment in Paris and Munizs studio in Brooklyn, provided the plans for their Salvador home. But during the pandemic shutdown, Muniz and Barretto managed the hands-on renovation themselves. In 2022 they purchased the nearby building, originally two multifamily homes that had been abandoned for decades. The artist, who calls himself an amateur architect, worked with Bello to reconfigure the structures into breezy open spaces that wrap around a courtyard filled with tropical plants.Meanwhile, Barretto and a colleague, Felipe Cipriano, designed the interiors of both the house and the center, furnishing them with chairs upholstered in Brazilian fabrics and light fixtures hand-woven from cane and string. I wanted to do something very simple and organic to feel like Bahia, says Barretto, who has since launched an interior design firm, Toca, with restaurant projects in So Paulo.Take a Tour of artist Vik Muniz's Brazilian getaway.The couple visit Salvador at least half a dozen times a year, always staying the whole month of January before Carnival. This year the new building allowed them to host activities ranging from concerts and meals to late night DJ parties, standup comedy shows, and artist talks, with hundreds of people in attendance.For Muniz, the studio in Salvador has also been invigorating. There, in 2022, he was inspired to make the portrait Florinda, based on a photograph of the Afro-Brazilian woman Florinda Anna do Nascimento, a prosperous 19th-century jewelry trader. He used glittery bits of shaved metal to compose the likeness of this historical figure, accented with actual jewelry from the collection of an antiques dealer in Salvador, which he then photographed to make the final image.Ricardo LabougleMuniz, who worked as a bartender in the 1980s at the Palladium in New York, designed the bar. He still plays bartender at dinners with friends. Muniz, who worked as a bartender in the 1980s at the Palladium in New York, designed the sumptuous bar in the centers event space, with a striking installation of bottles filled with cachaa, Brazils sugarcane alcohol, which he infused with herbs. Some of these have medicinal powers, and some are aphrodisiacs, says Muniz, who still plays bartender at their smaller dinners with friends."Contemporary art is not just for people who can buy it.He procured his ingredients for the liquors in the bustling San Joaquim market, one of his favorite places in the city. He loves its unique wares, which range from baskets and textiles to all sorts of religious items. In the heart of the market, directly in front of a bar, Muniz has opened a small white-cube gallery, inviting artists such as Anish Kapoor and Beatriz Milhazes to exhibit their work. People [in the market] drink beer and look at art, he says. For me its important, because it shows that contemporary art is not just for people who can buy it.Ricardo LabougleMunizs office is filled with his extensive book collection. He created the Mickey Mouse sculpture on the built-in sofa. The couple are constantly adding to their collections, and many of the works come from Bahia. They display these objectsfrom 18th-century wood and ivory statuettes of saints to colorful indigenous ceramics and African masksthroughout their home and the center. Muniz especially prizes his maps of Salvador, some of which date from the 16th century. He displays them on the walls side by side with the stunning water views. There are battles, invasions, lots of really cool pirate stories, Muniz says of the maps. He also rareley misses the citywide Afro-Brazilian festival and boat procession, which takes place every February 2 in celebration of Iemanj, the goddess of the sea. This bay, Muniz says, gesturing at the panorama, has been the stage for all going on here. This story originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of Elle Decor. SUBSCRIBE