PARIS — Some hotels are where the road takes you.

Le Magnifique, a new Paris hotel imagined by Vincent Darré in the heart of Montparnasse, is on the contrary the start of a surreal journey to a place where the arts are never far.

The building itself was a fit stage. Once home to the Milles Colonnes theater, opened in the 19th century, it is now where the love of theater, cinema and the great art of décor come together in one whimsical ode to the Left Bank’s golden age.

The interiors guru and artist, who grew up nearby and dined at La Coupole every Sunday as a child, conceived the new 62-room property as an homage to the arts once vibrant in the 14th arrondissement, long overshadowed by trendier neighborhoods.

Even the hotel’s name carries a whiff of cinema and fantasy, taking after the horse in Cocteau’s cinematic fairy tale to whom would-be riders need to say, “Go where I am going, Magnifique — go, go, go” to be taken away.

For Darré, hospitality is dramaturgy and this much is clear from the foyer, where monumental hands seem to curl around the colonnades, in a nod to those in Slavik-designed Drugstore Saint Germain of his childhood that once fascinated him.

Straight on is reception, with old-fashioned brass keys dangling from crimson tassels. But the eye is caught by a hand-painted fresco that offers a naïve depiction of the arts, including circus acts, climbing up the stairwell while its bannister is modeled after a musical score.

Following it upward leads to floors that unfurl like distinct chapters. During a recent press visit, fashion and lifestyle insiders including Clara Sant and Vanessa Seward wandered through this dreamscape of constellations, exotic animals and sky-lit salons.

Under the eaves, where Darré imagines bohemian painters and poets might once have lived, guest rooms become intimate ateliers with a wallpaper filled with his sketched homages to famous works of Sonia Delaunay, Wassily Kandinsky, Armand Brac, Tsuguharu Foujita and, of course, Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau.

Here, as on every floor, custom-designed headboards and mirrors have irregular outlines that turn them into surreal set pieces. Throughout the rooms, Darré chose toile over conventional wallpaper, a rare choice evoking artists’ canvases. Dressed in his opulent and color-filled drawings, its texture gave depth and warmth while softening sounds.

Following the bird-shaped signs downward leads to an exploration of the zodiac, with constellations underfoot and on every surface. On the next floor down, guests wandered through a version of Atlantis that owes as much to mythology as it does to Jules Verne and gives way to serene rooms that have something of Henri Matisse in the watercolor-like aspect of the walls.

A utopian cityscape occupies another floor, where the interiors guru used decor to correct the building’s quirks. Take oddly placed windows, the result of the building’s newly created doors and usually a headache, which he camouflaged within architectural trompe-l’œil motifs, folding a potential flaw into the fantasy.

Not a corner was left untouched, right down to the sheer curtains, a detail Darré admits to loathing and turned into hand-drawn storybook scenes filled with floating motifs, hints of distant cities and temples.

These are “rooms designed for dreaming with eyes wide open,” he quipped during a visit.

Back on the ground floor, the reception area with its wraparound check-in counter under a painted ceiling evokes a permanent matinée. Antique busts with coral headdresses sketched on the walls are an homage to Darré’s collaboration with the late Pierre Le-Tan.

A mirror stairwell leads to the lower level, where the swimming pool takes pride of place, its walls adorned by mosaic panels developed with Bisazza that evoke a garden filled with antique statuary. That ambiance extends to the patio, whose lattice-like treillage was crafted by artisans who usually work on Versailles’ Trianon trellises, while the fitness area is adorned with Roman-style depictions of sports.

Also located on this level is the Picabia, the establishment’s bar named after the artist, which is home to a piano and promises to become a hub for the area’s theatergoers.

This meticulous fantasy is also a collective work of craft. Darré reeled off artisans like an ensemble cast, including ceramicist Marie Martin, who created tiles for the elevator; sculptor Erwan de Rengervé, whose three-dimensional birds adorn the ceilings; wallpapers by Atelier Poulaillon, and Joël Daguerre, who is behind the great starry-sky fresco.

What matters to Darré in hospitality is a sense of place. At Le Magnifique, he imagines an out of town visitor stepping into his hotel and feeling Paris immediately: its memories, its myths, its cinema and its artists pressed against the walls. Already in the works is a guide to the Rive Gauche, ready to point guests to nearby gems like the Musée Bourdelle and the Giacometti Foundation.

But more importantly, a sojourn at Le Magnifique won’t be a bed for the night, but a full-scale, lovingly over-the-top journey through the imagination of Montparnasse. “Travelers will get a trip — and they won’t even need to leave their rooms,” Darré said.

Prices start at 179 euros for a classic room.

Le Magnifique
20bis Rue de la Gaité, 75014
Tel: +33 1 40 47 48 49