The Hotel Vide is a murder mystery in ten paintings. Each painting represents a character in the hotel, in a specific room, on a specific day, at a specific time. Each piece carries plot and character clues, but be forewarned: the answer to the mystery has never been divulged by the artist. You are invited to try to solve the mystery on your own, or as a group by clicking below. When you feel you have reached a conclusion, it may, or may not be correct. It may be incomplete. As long as it is not confirmed by me, the answer remains open. The ‘Hotel Vide’ lives.

Vide sounds like Life (vida) in Spanish, but really it has to do with Latin, or Italian (I forget my own research here), where it had to do with ‘seeing’. In looking for clues, the viewer is suddenly pushed into the painting, up close, and studies it in a different way. The casual glance is gone. You are much more aware of paint strokes and color, and levels of content within the work. I’m a sneaky guy… Good Luck!

If you’d like to work with other sleuths to solve this mystery, use the comments below each object to share your observations, theories, questions. You can see who shows up or invite friends to join you.

To start sleuthing…