Legendary Russian Art Collection at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris

A fragmented legendary art collection has, for a brief shining moment, been reunited in Paris. Sergei Shchukin, a wealthy Russian industrialist, knew how to pick the next big thing. He collected works and befriended artists long before critics ever warmed up to the new art, including show-stopper works by Picasso, Monet, and Gauguin, among others.

His discerning eye assembled one of the finest modern collections in the world. He opened his mansion to visitors to make the collection accessible to the public and emerging artists and in doing so influenced a new wave of emerging talent. Then, within a couple of years, his wife died, and two of his sons and a brother committed suicide. Following the Russian Revolution his collection was expropriated and broken up, to be divided among Russia’s state museums.

Shchukin’s grandson, André-Marc Delocque-Fourcaud, an expert in his ancestor’s work, nurtured the dream to see the collection come together as one, and found a friendly ear in art collector Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, who became the catalyst to make it happen.

Icons of Modern Art, The Shchukin Collection at the Fondation Louis Vuitton until March 5, 2017. Tel: +33 (0)1-40-69-96-00. Closed on Tuesdays. Ticket price is 16 euros; the reduced price is 10 and 5 euros. Web: www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr

From France Today magazine