Miami may still be considered the clichéd fun and sun capital of America, but it’s also a great city

Roberto M. Behar and  Rosario Marquardt, "M," 1996 concrete block, stucco, concrete, paint.

for art. Art Basel Miami Beach, the only outpost of the famed art fair outside of Switzerland, is joined this year by 10 other fairs capitalizing on its fame. (This year’s Art Basel Miami Beach, December 7–10, features some 195 galleries at the Miami Beach Convention Center and countless satellite exhibitions, performances and art happenings around the city.) Once again, Design Miami ’06, a showcase of modern furniture that launched last year in the Design District of Miami to much acclaim, will return during Basel Weekend. In January 2007, Art Miami (Jan. 5–8) sets up camp in the Miami Beach Convention Center for the 17th year with a strong showing of Latin art; the Original Miami Beach Antique Show (Jan. 11–15) is also returning to the convention center. Miami Modernism (Jan. 20–22), a fair focusing on mid-century furniture and collectibles, will once again occupy the James L. Knight Center. In Miami, this is the harvest season of art, but at any time of the year, art is just about as common as palm trees. Here are four reasons to migrate south this winter:

1. AN ART ROOM OF ONE'S OWN

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Since the launch of Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami has become known for several important contemporary collectors—such as Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz on Key Biscayne and Norman and Irma Braman in Bal Harbor—who have built home museums. During Art Basel, many of the private collections in town are open for VIP tours. Don and Mera Rubell (related to the late Steve Rubell of Studio 54 fame) have taken the unusual step of moving to their collection. Several years ago, they established the Rubell Family Collection in Wynwood, the SoHo of Miami, an area that now boasts most of the city’s galleries and, most recently, an outpost of the North Miami museum MoCa. To be closer to their art, the Rubells built an apartment over their private museum, which is open to the public every day and features work by Keith Haring and a host of other contemporary artists.

2. SLEEP AND EAT WITH ART

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The Sagamore Hotel on South Beach has become known as the art hotel of the city, with a lobby that more closely resembles a gallery, replete with an epic-scale photograph by Massimo Vitali. It now has a very busy restaurant as well, Social Miami, that is well, exceptionally social, especially during Art Basel and Art Miami. To dine amid a first-rate collection has a certain aesthetic flair. In Little Haiti, the perfect correlation between art and food can be found at TransEAT/Food Culture Museum, founded by famed chef Montserrat Guillen and the renowned Spanish artist Antoni Miralda. Everything pertaining to food and the senses, from unusual African canned goods to Miralda’s own renditions of giant plastic tongues, can be found at this tasty little museum. It’s open by appointment, and Guillen, a famed cook, is known to serve wonderful fare at their openings.