The Shchukin Collection
I had the opportunity to attend this impressive painting collection at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. It will take place till the 20th of February 2017.
It’s THE occasion to see some of the greatest painters all reunited. It’s the first time in nearly 100 years that the finest collection of modern art is outside Russia.
Thanks to Sergeï Ivanovich Shchukin, a famous Russian collector, it is possible today. He was a visionary art lover who managed to gather 278 pieces of art in the early 1900’s. During the Russian revolution of October 1917, his collection was taken by the government and was split over several museums in St Petersburg and Moscow. “He started to collect unpopular art, which was snubbed by the Louvre and others museums. It was his personal taste. Perhaps he heard foreshocks that would change the world. Such a collection could appear only in a country that awaited a revolution” Said Irina Antonova, the Director of the Pushkin Museum.
Today, the Fondation presents 130 masterpieces from his collection coming from the Hermitage Museum and the Pushkin Museum. The Fondation Louis Vuitton showcases masterpieces from impressionism to postimpressionism and modern masters artists like Cézanne, Van Gogh, Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Gauguin... and so many more.
This collection inspired a lot of new artists around the world like Malevich’s Black Suprematic Square (1929) for example.
This exclusive exhibit is a journey through time and space between the Trubetskoy Palace and the Fondation Louis Vuitton, between Russia and France, between the early 20th and the 21st century.
