Credits: Foundation Vuitton
The fashion house will open the doors of its state-of-the-art new museum, Foundation Louis Vuitton, on October 27th just outside Paris in Bois de Boulogne, France.
The project was first unveiled in 2006, and was originally scheduled to open around 2010. The foundation has set as its mission “to encourage and promote contemporary artistic creation both in France and internationally,” focusing on works of the 20th and 21st centuries, reports WWD.
The 126,000-square-foot building designed by Canadian architect Frank Gehry (who was recently tapped for Louis Vuitton’s ‘Icons and Iconoclasts’ project) will house the corporate art collection owned by LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (reported to include works by Damien Hirst, Pablo Picasso, Mark Rothko and more), with space for 11 galleries, an auditorium (which could potentially serve as a performance space for concerts and live shows) and terraces with panoramic views of Paris. The building, which cost about $136 million to build, is supposed to resembles a glass cloud drifting over the treetops of the Jardin d’Acclimatation.
© A scale model of LVMH Museum – Getty Images
LVMH boss Bernard Arnault described the art collection to be displayed as a ”pretty eclectic mix, but it is true that I am quite involved in the choice”. Louis Vuitton alone has initiated some of the greatest and most commercially successful fashion-art hook-ups in history (think Yayoi Kusama’s spots in 2012, or Takashi Murakami’s new monogram in 2007). Appearing on French TV station TF1, he added of the museum: ”This a small payback to the public, and to our employees.”
The Louis Vuitton Foundation in the Bois de Boulogne Ph. by Iwan Baan
The very first exhibition will be quite close to the building’s history: it is to be devoted to Gehry’s architectural contribution to the Foundation. You’ll be able to catch it for free at the institue for the first three days after its opening, as LVMH is inviting the public to reserve complimentary tickets to the museum.
