July 01, 2015

A Visit to the Fondation Louis Vuitton

What do you get when you put a renowned architect together with a very wealthy foundation to build a repository for a contemporary art collection?  The answer was unveiled last October when the magnificent Frank Gehry designed Fondation Louis Vuitton opened its doors to rave reviews.  Curious to see what all the fuss was about, I took advantage of a beautiful Saturday afternoon in June to hop on the Number 1 Métro line to Les Sablons station to visit this new marvel of architecture and art.

A clearly marked route takes visitors through the historic Jardin d'Acclimatation designed after Hyde Park in London to provide urban dwellers with a green space for recreation and botanical studies.  A legacy of Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie, this beautiful park features pavilions and pools as well as a palmarium, an aviary and horse stables, and is as popular today as it was when it opened 150 years ago.

After a short walk the landscape changes and soon the Foundation's amazing structure appears, its glass and white curves rising above the treeline.  Conceived by Frank Gehry as billowing sails around an "iceberg" core, the stately edifice seems poised to embark on a magical journey.

The Fondation Louis Vuitton was formed in 2006 as a private cultural initiative with the purpose of promoting and supporting contemporary art in France.  In their quest to create an important cultural center, the Foundation gave Canadian-born architect Frank Gehry carte blanche to design a building that would put them on the map.  And on the map they are.  The Fondation Louis Vuitton is a masterpiece of both design and technology - so impressive that the art collection it houses is almost secondary.

Inspired by the Victorian glass exhibition halls of Paris (Grand Palais) and London (Crystal Palace), Frank Gehry has created a futuristic greenhouse that echos the shapes of the gardens surrounding the structure.  The twelve billowing "sails" comprise 3,600 panes of glass, each one twisted both vertically and horizontally and no two exactly alike, and 19,000 sheets of a white fibre-reinforced concrete called Ductal.  The glass was made on-site in specially designed furnaces while the Ductal is a relatively new compound that blends the strength of concrete with the flexibility of metal.

The glass and white concrete shell is supported by wood and steel beams - so beautifully constructed and installed that they look like sculpture.

The 126,000 square foot interior features an auditorium, with a mural by Ellsworth Kelly...

Multiple terraces and observation decks, many with art installations...

All with views...

A cascading waterfall...

An excellent restaurant called Frank's, with a Gehry-designed "fish chandelier"...

And eleven art galleries...

Right now, on the lower level is a very special exhibition called "Keys to a Passion", the third stage in the inauguration of the Fondation Louis Vuitton.  On view are masterworks by Bacon, Giacometti, Kandinsky Matisse, Munch and Picasso, to name just a few, culled from the LVMH collection as well as loans from some major museums.

Its hard to say what was more impressive, the building or the art, but either is worth a return visit.  I leave you with my farewell view of this architectural jewel, the "stern" of the "ship" sailing off to parts unknown!

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