Private Air New York

www.privateairny.com 64   |   Private Air  Fall 2026 Ancient Egyptians painted stars, deities, and celestial symbols across tomb ceilings, turning the architecture above the dead into a symbolic sky. Centuries later, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the vault of the Sistine Chapel. What began as a relatively contained decorative commission became an extraordinary pictorial world overhead, one that still compels visitors to tilt their heads back more than five centuries later. At Versailles, Louis XIV understood the ceiling differently. In the Hall of Mirrors, Charles Le Brun turned the vault into a visual account of the king's political and military achievements. Marble, mirrors, and gilding may surround the visitor, but the room's spectacle is completed above, where painting and architecture transform the ceiling into an instrument of power. e modern ceiling no longer carries dynasties or creation myths, but it still has the power to alter how a room is understood. In Palm Beach, Alex Alonso, founder of mr alex TATE, makes that power almost tactile. A soft blush tone washes the coved ceiling of the living room, while crisp white treillage adds a second layer overhead. e latticework catches shadow as the daylight changes, sharpening the geometry of the cove and giving the room a sense of depth that flat paint could never achieve. "e trellis on the ceiling added an unexpected element that we were looking for in the room with geometry and depth," Alonso says. "By painting the ground of the ceiling a soft blush and keeping the trellis white, it Oak planking warms the soaring ceiling of this East Hampton living room by Karen Asprea of Asprea Studio, visually uniting the expansive space while lending it a more intimate sense of scale. Photography by Haley Ellen Day. LUXURY LIVING

• Cover