Art & Exhibitions
Take a Sneak Peak at the Fondation Louis Vuitton
It will open with an exhibition devoted to its architect, Frank Gehry.
Lorena Muñoz-Alonso
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It seemed this moment would never arrive, but lo and behold, the much-awaited Fondation Louis Vuitton is finally ready. It will open to the public on October 27th, after a special Inaugural Weekend, taking place concurrently with Paris’ art fair FIAC.
The opening will mark the culmination of LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault’s long-held dream. A dream more than a decade in the making, and realized in close collaboration with starchitect Frank Gehry. Arnault first discussed plans about the foundation with Gehry back in 2001, with the building’s construction officially starting in 2008 in the Bois de Boulogne.
The building is pure Gehry—he of the iconic Guggenheim Bilbao—a symphony of organic lines and metallic planes that has the appearance of a giant silver insect. But the foundation also has a set of unique features: Gehry’s signature titanium has been mixed here with curved glass surfaces, inspired by sails being blown by the wind.
So close is the alliance between Arnault and his architect that the opening program will feature an exhibition devoted to Gehry’s oeuvre. The show will be presented in dialogue with the first major European Gehry retrospective, that will run simultaneously at the Centre Pompidou.
Visitors will also be able to enjoy a hang of several emblematic works from the foundation’s permanent collection, as well as a group of special art commissions responding to the architecture of the building, including a piece by Olafur Eliasson.
But there is more to life than art for Arnault, who is also a music fan (“Bernard Arnault Opens Up About Art, Fashion, and His New Museum”). Thus, the Fondation Louis Vuitton will also feature a musical program, which will start on October 28th with a recital by the pianist Lang Lang, and will continue in November with a series of 8 retrospective concerts by the pioneering German electronic band Kraftwerk.
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