Art by Anastasia Duke

Seventeen original paintings made for four apartments in Olbia — and the story of why they exist at all.

Anastasia in front of the RENTAL12 office, Olbia · Photo by RENTAL12, April 2026

A boy, a suitcase, and a kitchen table

Quick answer: Anastasia arrived in Olbia in spring 2022 from Odessa, with her young son and one suitcase between them. The first paintings on this page were made on the kitchen table of a borrowed apartment in Via Mazzini, three streets from where she now leads design for the AZULIS portfolio. Sardinia took her in. The art is, in part, a thank-you note.

I do not write the dramatic version of this story, because Sardinia did not ask for one. When my son and I came off the ferry from Civitavecchia in April 2022, we had a duffel bag, a small portfolio of unfinished work, and a phone number from a friend of a friend. By June there was a kitchen, a school enrolment, and a key on a hook. By autumn there was a desk in the RENTAL12 office and a brief: design these apartments the way you would want to live in them, on the day you most needed somewhere to live.

That brief is still my brief. It is also why these paintings exist. The first canvas — Rhythm in Quiet Order, the small grey-and-white study now hanging at Garibaldi Suites #4 — was painted in the same week I unpacked my paints for the first time in eighteen months. It is the rhythm of the shutters opposite my window in those first Olbia mornings. Nothing more elaborate than that.

Floriana, who runs RENTAL12 with her partner Kristina, saw it on a phone screen and asked, very quietly, whether I would mind painting eight more. That conversation is the reason this page exists.

Where the work comes from

Quick answer: Three sources, in order of how often they show up: the colour of the water at Pittulongu in early morning; the geometry of light through Olbia's old shutters at three in the afternoon; and the negative space of Sardinian skies after the maestrale wind, when there is nothing in them at all.

People who have not lived in Olbia ask, fairly, what there is to look at. The answer is: too much. Not the postcard-too-much of Costa Smeralda blues, which I do not paint, but the slower kind. The way a fishing boat at Pittulongu sits inside the haze instead of on top of it. The way the granite walls of an old stazzo hold three different shades of grey at once, depending on which direction the cloud is moving. The way the white plaster of the old town takes a different gold every twenty minutes between three and seven.

That is what the six series on this page are. They are not landscapes. They are slowed-down notes — fragments of light caught against a wall, a horizon held still long enough to be remembered, a path broken in three places because that is how I got here.

"The point of an apartment painting is not to be looked at. It is to be present, the way a window is present. You forget it is there until the light changes." — A.D., on the wall above her studio table.

Why these paintings stay on these walls

There is a reason these works are not for sale. I made them on a kitchen table in a town that asked me very few questions, fed my son a school lunch, and sent us both home in the evening with bread on the doorstep. By the time the first canvas was framed, Olbia was no longer the town I had landed in. It was the town I lived in.

A painting can repay that, in a small way, by staying put. By being on the wall when a guest arrives at AZULIS Tigellio at one in the morning after a delayed Ryanair flight from Berlin, drops the suitcase, and looks up. The painting was already there. It will be there when they leave. And then it will be there when the next guest arrives. That is the whole brief. It is not literature. It is just hospitality, made out of pigment instead of bread.

My son turned ten last month. He has a Sardinian accent now, on the days I am paying attention. The paintings stay because we stay.

A working day at the RENTAL12 office, Olbia · Photo by RENTAL12

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I see Anastasia Duke's paintings in person?

Where can I physically see Anastasia Duke's seventeen original paintings in Sardinia?

Anastasia's seventeen originals hang inside four RENTAL12 apartments in Olbia: Garibaldi Suites #4 (eight works), Via Cavour 41 (four works), AZULIS Tigellio Suites (a three-panel diptych), and AZULIS Apartments #7 (two works). They are only visible to staying guests.

The paintings are never lent out and never travel. They live full-time on the walls they were painted for. Booking any of the four apartments — through rental12.com directly or our search — gets you in front of them. Mention "art collection" in your booking note and we will tell you exactly which works are on which walls so you can pick the apartment that matches your eye.

Are these paintings for sale?

Can I buy one of Anastasia Duke's paintings from this collection?

The paintings on these walls are not for sale — they were made specifically for each apartment and stay there. Anastasia accepts a small number of private commissions each year; enquiries via the RENTAL12 contact form are forwarded to her studio.

The seventeen paintings catalogued on this page are part of the apartments themselves and do not leave the walls. For private commissions, write to us via the contact page with subject line "Commission — Anastasia Duke" and your enquiry will be forwarded to her studio. Anastasia accepts roughly four commissions per year and currently has a waiting list into autumn 2026.

What inspired the Horizon in Stillness diptych?

What inspired Anastasia's Horizon in Stillness diptych at AZULIS Tigellio Suites?

The Pittulongu shoreline at first light, when the sea-line and the haze above it become indistinguishable. Anastasia walks that beach most mornings; the diptych at AZULIS Tigellio Suites is the slow accumulation of those walks in blue, grey, black, and beige.

The shoreline at Pittulongu, eight kilometres north of Olbia, where the bay opens toward Tavolara island. In winter, between November and February, the morning haze sits low enough that the horizon becomes a smudge instead of a line. Anastasia painted the diptych across that winter (December 2024–February 2025) from approximately fifty walks. The two panels show the same view a few seconds apart — the only meaningful change is in the shade of grey above the line.

Who is Anastasia Duke and how is she connected to RENTAL12?

Who is Anastasia Duke and what is her role at RENTAL12?

Anastasia is the Design Director for AZULIS Villas and RENTAL12. She arrived in Olbia in 2022 with her young son and has shaped every interior since. In 2026 her own paintings entered four of the apartments she designed.

Anastasia is Design Director at AZULIS Villas and RENTAL12, with a decade of prior experience across luxury residential design in Dubai, Odessa, and Moscow. She has lived and worked in Olbia since 2022. Her main role is interior design — choosing every material, palette, and piece of furniture across the AZULIS portfolio. The seventeen paintings on this page are her own work as a practising artist, made for apartments she had already designed.

What materials and techniques does she use?

What materials, pigments, and techniques does Anastasia Duke use in these paintings?

Mixed media on canvas: gesso ground, oil pigment, graphite, and pulled-back washes. Most works are framed in solid oak. The line drawing 'Quiet Intervals' is ink on raw canvas, unframed by intent.

Sixteen of the seventeen paintings are mixed media on stretched cotton canvas: a gesso ground, oil pigment for colour, graphite for line, and pulled-back washes (water and turpentine) to recover negative space. Frames are solid Sardinian oak, made by a small framer in Olbia old town. The seventeenth — Quiet Intervals at AZULIS Apartments #7 — is black ink on raw, unprimed canvas, unframed on purpose.

Why are several works painted as diptychs and triptychs?

Why does Anastasia Duke paint diptychs and triptychs instead of single canvases?

Anastasia paints the way she walks the coastline — in stages, not single frames. A diptych or triptych lets one moment carry across two or three panels, so the room reads them as a pause that has length, the way a horizon does.

A single canvas can capture an instant; a multi-panel work can hold duration. The morning haze at Pittulongu does not arrive in one second — it arrives across forty minutes, with the horizon moving fractionally as the light strengthens. Two or three panels let that movement land on the wall. Practically, multi-panel work also gives a guest's eye somewhere to travel, which keeps the painting alive over a long stay rather than being absorbed in five seconds.

How does the art relate to AZULIS's design philosophy?

How does Anastasia Duke's art fit into the AZULIS "Intelligent Comfort" design philosophy?

AZULIS calls its philosophy 'Intelligent Comfort' — beauty that never costs sleep, depth, or daily ease. Anastasia's paintings are quiet by design. They settle a room rather than perform in it, which is why they belong on AZULIS walls.

AZULIS interiors are built around the idea that a holiday rental should let you sleep better, not show off harder — see Anastasia's design interview on the main profile page. The same logic applies to the art on the walls. None of the seventeen paintings are statement pieces in the gallery sense — there is no neon, no provocation, no headline. They are quiet, large enough to register, restrained enough to disappear when you stop looking. Most guests notice them once on arrival and once again on the morning of departure. That is exactly the right amount of attention.

Can guests request a specific apartment to see specific paintings?

Can a guest request a specific RENTAL12 apartment in order to see a particular Anastasia Duke painting?

Yes. Tell us which series interests you when you book direct and we will steer you toward the apartment that holds it. Garibaldi Suites #4 carries the largest single grouping (eight works); the AZULIS Tigellio diptych is the most often requested.

Yes — and we encourage it. When you book direct on rental12.com, leave a note like "I would like to stay in the apartment with the Horizon in Stillness diptych" and we will route you to the right unit subject to availability. The two most-requested apartments for art reasons are AZULIS Tigellio Suites (the diptych) and Garibaldi Suites #4 (the largest grouping, eight works across four series). Direct booking saves 5–10% over OTAs — see Book Direct vs Airbnb & Booking.