Fondation Louis Vuitton Reunites 250 Artworks From Overlooked Collector

(MENAFN- USA Art News) The Fondation Louis Vuitton (FLV) in Paris is presenting a major exhibition that reunites over 250 artworks once owned by Gustave Fayet, an influential but largely forgotten French collector and designer. Titled“Gustave Fayet, Collector-Designer: Icons of Modern Art,” the show highlights Fayet's pivotal role in supporting the French avant-garde at the turn of the 20th century, bringing together pieces rarely seen by the public. The exhibition is on view through March 8.

Among the notable works is Vincent van Gogh's Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Pipe from January 1889, which has not been publicly exhibited since 1990, when it was reportedly loaned by the Niarchos family. Other significant pieces include Paul Gauguin's Yellow Christ ( 1889 ) and Paul Cezanne's The Great Pine ( 1887–89 ).

Exhibition cocurator Sylvie Patry told ARTnews that Fayet“was important, because he was one of the first in France to understand van Gogh, Gauguin, and to support Odilon Redon,” adding that he was“adventurous in a really positive sense, and had a form of audacity in his choices.” The exhibition spans the entire museum, presenting a collection rich in Post-Impressionist works. Artistic director Suzanne Pagé confirmed to ARTnews that“exhibitions on subjects that haven't been addressed fall squarely within our remit,” particularly“when it offers an opportunity to present major works of modernity that have never been shown in France.”

Fayet's own artistic creations are also featured, including naturalist landscapes, color-rich experiments influenced by the artists he collected, and psychedelic floral watercolors, along with book illustrations, fabrics, ceramics, and carpets. A highlight is the chapel-like installation featuring stained glass by Richard Burgsthal, commissioned by Fayet for the medieval Fontfroide Abbey in southwest France, which Fayet meticulously restored. Another striking display is Odilon Redon's monumental Symbolist paintings, commissioned by Fayet in 1908 for the abbey's library, which are not typically accessible to the public.

Fayet was a close friend of Redon, reportedly owning over 300 works by him and dozens by Nabis artists. The exhibition includes 86 works by Redon, 78 by Gauguin, and 10 by van Gogh, alongside pieces by Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Paul Signac, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard, and Henri Matisse. While Fayet is believed to have owned around 750 artworks at one point, his collection constantly evolved through exchanges and sales, though speculation was not his primary motive. Patry noted that“He made a few nice deals with some Gauguins, but if he was really collecting in order to speculate, he'd have done it more systematically.”

Fayet inherited his wealth from a family of winegrowers and amateur painters. His perceptive eye and deep interest in art that celebrated color, nature, and imagination guided his collecting. He became renowned in Paris for his extensive collections of Gauguin, which included approximately 200 works, and van Gogh. Eminent visitors to his homes included artists such as Bonnard, Matisse, and Pablo Picasso, as well as writers like Edith Wharton and collectors Sergei Shchukin and the Morozov brothers, whose collections have also been subjects of FLV exhibitions.

The exhibition's Gauguin section, presented on the scale of a small survey, reunites three interconnected paintings about Christ: Self-Portrait with the Yellow Christ ( 1890–91 ), Le Calvaire Breton ( 1889 ), and The Yellow Christ ( 1889 ), the latter considered a manifesto on Synthetism. These works have never before been exhibited together in France.

We previously reported:

The Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris opens an exhibition today, October 9, spotlighting collector Gustave Fayet and ten of his Van Gogh paintings.

A new book reveals a letter from Claude Monet detailing his first London solo exhibition, organized by Theo van Gogh, Vincent's brother, in 1889.

Piet Mondrian's Composition III and Wassily Kandinsky's Das bunte Leben will lead Christie's October 14 sale, while Sotheby's offers Roman sculptures.

Source: ARTnews

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