Icons of modern art. The Shchukin Collection at the exhibition in Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris

Fondation Louis Vuitton presents the exhibition Icons of Modern Art. The Shchukin Collection  from 22 October 2016, to 20 February 2017. The exhibition is part of the official programme of the France-Russia year of culrural tourism 2016-17 of which it consitutes one of the most prominent events.

The show pays tribute to one of the greatest art patrons of the early 20th century, Sergei Shchukin, the visionary Russian collector of French modern art, whose collection "remains little know to the general western public even today” states Anne Baldassari, curator of the exhibition. “In fact, since it was broken up in 1948 it has never been gathered as a singular and coherent artistic entity”, continues Baldassari.

Thanks to the generous participation  of the Hermitage Museum and the Pushkin Museum, which greatly contributed to the conception of the project, the exhibition presents of 130 masterpieces by Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Modern masters from the Shchukin Collection.

Moreover the multiscreen video-installation Shchukin, Matisse. La Dance et la Musique by producer and director duo Peter Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke re-enacts the conditions in which Shchukin commissioned Matisse to create a monumental work for the Trubetskoy Palace’s staircase.

The exhibition and related events were curated and planned by Anne Baldassari, who also edited the catalogue. The participation of Sergei Shchukin’s grandson, André-Marc Delocque Fourcaud, an expert in the work of his ancestor and historical advisor on the project, was crucial to its success, as was the collaboration of Marina D. Loshak, director of the Pushkin Museum, Mikhail B. Piotrovky, director of the Hermitage Museum, and finally Zelfira Tregulova, director of the Tretyakov State Gallery.