From six-story pastel pink Neo-Renaissance hotels to ornate California swimming pools
In the 25 or so years that Wes Anderson has been making films he has established a genre entirely of his own. His use of symmetry, snappy colour palettes and striking locations is unparalleled, making the likes of The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom and The Darjeeling Limited instant classics, beloved of cinephiles the world over. His followers will be delighted, then, to learn that the American director’s impact extends beyond the big screen to real life locations the world over – as @accidentallywesanderson, an Instagram account serving spaces deserving of a location scout, will testify.
The account showcases architecture and interiors which perfectly embody Anderson’s romantic aesthetic – whether that be a six-story pink Neo-Renaissance hotel in Prague, or a charmingly old-fashioned tram in Lisbon. The account was founded by Wally Koval after he discovered popular Subreddit ‘Accidental Wes Anderson’. “The photos just transported me into one of Anderson’s films,” says Koval. “I just felt there was one thing missing: the story behind the photos. So I began doing my due diligence, and found these amazing narratives.”
For each spot he shares, contributed by Anderson’s well-travelled and ever-growing fab-base, Koval includes details about the exact location, and the backstory behind finding it. “The sheer historical significance and the lives that were lived in and around so many of these locations over the course of hundreds, sometimes even thousands of years – it is easy to take that for granted. I think the origin of a lot of photos is not something typically shared. Having that context adds so much more.”
Clearly, @accidentallywesanderson is much more than a fan account – it is a community of over 100k people hungry to source and pursue Anderson’s dreamy surrealism in their day-to-day life. As such, the feed doubles up as a travel agent catalogue for many. “At face value a beautiful building is just a beautiful building, but when you look behind the facade, there is so much more to discover,” he says. “The colours, the symmetry, the overall feeling it gives you is something of a dream – it’s no wonder people are so drawn to it.”
