Inside Beirut Museum Of Art Co-Director Taline Aynilian Boladian’s Dubai Home

The vibrant villa is a cavern of curiosities; a playground of aestheticism

Taline Aynilian Boladian may have only lived in Dubai for five years, but she has long been linked to the city. Starting out as a specialist in 19^th-century art at Christie’s, she later joined Bonhams, spending years moving between New York and the UAE. In these early days, she was instrumental in shaping the region’s evolving art scene. Today, her journey feels like it’s come full circle.

Her current focus is a pressing and personal one: safeguarding Lebanon’s national art collection and archives. “Given the escalating threats of cultural erasure, the urgency to protect what’s left of our tangible culture has never been more critical,” she says, reflecting on her role as a Founding Co-Director of the Beirut Museum of Art.

Of Lebanese-Armenian descent, Taline has lived in many cities including New York, Beirut, London, Paris, Florence, and now Dubai – each imprinting on her aesthetic sensibilities. “I’m fortunate to have a career in a field I love – and addicted to, if you ask my husband!” she smiles.

“As I discover new artists and artworks through my job, my palette extends, and so does my collection. I would be remiss not to mention how much Dubai, with its mix of cultures, has broadened my horizons and interests too.” Taline’s Jumeirah villa, once an embassy building, now feels like a microcosm of her passions and experiences.

Walking inside, you are instantly absorbed into a conversation between the past and the present. The grand hallway, with its vast proportions and sweeping central staircase, makes a powerful first impression, but the real appeal is in the details. It’s a home that’s bursting with furniture, art, and curiosities, each with a tale of its own. Sleek, architectural seating configurations, mid-century influences, geometric light pendants and Armenian antiquities converse with ultra-contemporary artworks.

Taline has mounted visual tension throughout the home using contrasts whether in terms of palette, materials or artwork. Her taste masterfully goes on to strike a chord between maximalism and restraint, inviting exploration, without appearing overwhelming.

At the top of the staircase, a striking portrait of a woman by Tigran Tsitoghdzyan looks down, fusing photography and painting in monochrome; it’s a nod to Taline’s Armenian roots. “The works of this series have a transfixing, mysterious quality,” she reflects. “You can’t tell if it’s painted or an illusion, so you keep staring. He first painted it, then photographed it, adding scribbles in Armenian with silver gel pen. The words are made-up but feel familiar as he created his own vocabulary.”

It’s a standout piece amidst her ever-growing collection, which spans contexts, movements, and eras. Taline’s background as the former Head of Orientalist Art at Bonhams is evident in her choices, but her approach remains refreshingly intuitive. She first acquires what she loves; figuring out where it will be placed later. Each work, therefore, finds its own place within the broader narrative of the home.

The adjoining bathroom is a joyful surprise, wrapped as it is, in 60s-style floral wallpaper with flashes of fresh tangerine. A sculptural piece she picked up at the Mexican pavilion of Expo 2020 – an anamorphic creature – shifts the eye to the floor. It evokes the mythology of Mexican folklore, reflecting the idea that humans and animals exist inside one another. The space embodies a marriage of form and function, making a discrete but emphatic statement.

In the central hallway, Taline has blended architectural furniture pieces with more traditional accents. In one slice of the room, a pair of George Geara chairs sit atop a Persian rug, woven in Isfahan. The space is anchored by a large-scale painting by Iranian artist Mohammad Bozorgi in aquamarine; its abstracted calligraphic forms provide a counterpoint to the clean lines of Geara’s designs. Rather than just a passageway, the hall invites visitors to pause and absorb.

A poppy-red pill by Damien Hirst cheekily nods to Taline’s husband’s past. “He’s a pharmacist by training,” she says. “On our first Valentine’s Day as a married couple, we stumbled upon a gallery in London that had just released a few Hirst editions. The heart shaped pill felt very much like a ‘it’s meant to be’ purchase!”

In the living room, large arched windows filter in natural light. Here, two monochromatic works by Armenian surrealist Ruben Grigorian command attention. Their loaded symbolism creates a visual thread that connects to a diptych across the room. This pair of works, part of Ryan Houssari’s Candyfornia series, depict a church and a mosque in Lebanon, framed against the airy sky.

The pairing invites reflection on what is unspoken or intangible. The room’s overall mood is animated by the yellows found in mustard-hued armchairs, mismatched pendant lights, and raw, patterned ceramics. The space erupts with texture and tactile details, like a rose-frosted glass mushroom lamp perched on a sleek, circular lacquered side table by Nada Debs.

Across the hallway, the music room is where lively conversations and fun with friends flow. “After the kitchen, this room gets the most action and is my husband’s favourite part of the home,” Taline affirms. “He’s often here with a laptop, colleagues and friends, smoking a cigar and listening to music on our oversized speakers. We all love music – maybe a bit too much – so when it plays, it generally gets us all out of our rooms, dancing and singing.” The space also serves as the family’s pre-dinner setting. Blue and white wallpaper in a rhythmic foliage print by William Yeoward sets the tone behind the retro bar.

Curved, inky-hued chairs by Roche Bobois invite guests to sink in and stay awhile. The art on the walls here is characterised by geometric forms, with pieces by emerging artists Edouard Souhaid and Behnoosh Feiz. As a tonic, a portrait of a flame-haired woman, by Spanish painter, Ángeles Agrela has an arresting presence, investing the space with human, kinetic energy.

The dining area, set for Taline’s family Thanksgiving, summons a sense of escapism. Two tiny oil paintings – one of a pomegranate, the other of a fig – nod to classic Western still-lifes while paying homage to beloved regional produce. The table setting, like the rest of the home, is a study in eclecticism. “The centrepiece is a Moustiers faience soup tureen from the late 1800s that we love to use,” Taline says.

“The small pomegranate plate is an older Fornasetti piece from circa 1950 and the silverware is a vintage Soviet-era Armenian set gifted by my in-laws. I loved it so much, I tracked down a matching set!” The embroidered linen napkins and placemats, crafted by Ranjit Ahuja in India, were a gift from a close friend, lending another layer of personal history to the table. A glazed ceramic vase made of bulbous, stacked oranges looks almost edible, it’s set against a surrealist mural wallpaper by Christian Lacroix that invites guests into a dreamlike landscape. On the opposite wall, a sun-kissed painting by Irish artist Lucy Doyle captures a vibrant table spread dotted with rosemary and salted sardines, sending diners right back to some long summer lunches on the Mediterranean.

Throughout her home, Taline has created spaces that feel both curated and lived in. Despite the abundance of art, it’s anything but a static gallery space; her habitat is alive and ever-evolving.

Reflecting on what living with art brings to her family’s life, she notes that it’s a constant conversation starter: “It sparks discussions about history and culture. We’ve had questions like, ‘What is calligraphy? Who is Martin Luther King Jr., and why is there paint splashed across his face? What do the shiny bullets around this figure mean? Why did the artist leave off her face?’ Answering these questions is no small feat – it urges us to think deeply and often prompts us to research what we value, what we’re projecting, and, ultimately, what story we want to help preserve.”

Editor: Ayesha Shehmir; Photography: Efraim Evidor, Styling: Laura Jane Brown

From the Winter 2024 issue of Harper’s Bazaar Interiors.