LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault to Open New $166 Million Museum in Paris

French luxury goods billionaire Bernard Arnault will open a new museum close to his ‘Foundation Louis Vuitton’ in Paris, which opened in 2014. The collector enlisted Frank Gehry to revamp the building that formerly housed the Museum of Arts and Popular Traditions.

(From L) Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, CEO of LVMH Bernard Arnault, French president Francois Hollande, Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo look at a scale model during a press conference to unveil a new museum in Paris, on March 8, 2017.

In a presentation attended by French President François Hollande, culture minister Audrey Azoulay, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Bernard Arnault announced that he agreed to a 50-year lease at €150,000 ($158,000) annually for the 11-story building, which belongs to the city of Paris. Additionally, the city will receive a variable percentage of turnover between two and 10 percent depending on profitability.

Bernard Arnault’s new museum, scheduled to be completed in 2022, is close to his existing ‘Foundation Louis Vuitton’ in Paris, which opened in 2014.

As part of the deal, the museum will be renamed La Maison LVMH/Arts, Talents, Patrimonie. According to Le Parisien, renovation costs have been estimated at €158 million ($166 million).

The 15,100-square-meter building will include a traditional craft workshop, a 2,000-seat event hall, multiple gallery spaces, and a rooftop restaurant.

The Fondation Louis Vuitton building is a visual feast, created by star architect Frank Gehry, who again, will be designing for the upcoming museum project.

Renovation of the museum is expected to take at least five years, and the new institution is slated to open in 2022.

In fact, Bernard Arnault is one of the world’s richest man and his appetite for art grows continuously as he expands his museum empire.

LVMH Group Ceo and billionaire art collector, Bernard Arnault

In 2014, on the eve of the opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris’s Bois de Boulogne park, the Financial Times‘s weekend “How to Spend It” section is led by a fascinating in-depth profile of the LVMH CEO and renowned art collector. The piece, penned by Nick Foulkes, breaks down everything, from the roots and the rise of his luxury goods empire to his love of art and history of collecting, as well as how the visionary leader views the integration of art and fashion his company has executed so successfully over the years.

Recap on some of Louis Vuitton’s Art & Fashion collaborations 

Japanese artist Takashi Murakami for Louis Vuitton, began in 2003 and ended in 2015, was one of the longest artist-collaborations with the company
Graffiti artist Stephen Sprouse for Louis Vuitton, from 2000 – 2009
Yayoi Kusama for Louis Vuitton in 2012
Renowned Chinese contemporary artist Xu Bing for Louis Vuitton, 2016
The company’s most recent 2017 collaboration was with American artist Jeff Koons

By turn fawning and insightful, Foulkes describes Arnault as “utterly charming” as they share a breakfast of “coffee, fruit, croissants, and crusty French bread.” He describes Arnault as “quietly spoken, tall, pale, and elegant…this is what a fortune of $33bn (give or take) looks like in human form.” What makes Arnault so intriguing as a collector, Foulkes opines, is the way that “he has blurred, if not erased, the line between art and commerce.”

According to the profile, Arnault values creativity most, in an attitude that borders on religious, changing the relationship between luxury, fashion, and art.


Arnault tells Foulkes about his first auction purchase, a Claude Monet early 20th-century depiction of Charing Cross Bridge. Arnault recounts his initial reaction upon seeing the work—”No it’s not possible, there is a Monet for sale”—and his pleasant surprise at being the winning bidder: “I was the only one to bid for it, and I got it for a relatively low amount.” He finds joy in being the first to discover things, at a time “when everyone wanted “unreadable, dramatic works dating from shortly before an artist’s suicide.” Arnault always stood firm and has total confidence in his artistic judgement.

Frank Owen Gehry, (born 1929) is a famous Canadian-born American architect, residing in Los Angeles. A number of his buildings, including his private residence, have become world-renowned attractions.

Another major portion of the article is devoted to international starchitect Frank Gehry, designer of the Fondation building who again, will be designing for the upcoming museum project.

 

*extracted from artnet news