{"id":227591,"date":"2025-10-20T19:35:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T19:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/227591\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T19:35:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T19:35:11","slug":"francois-pinault-and-bernard-arnaults-dueling-museums-in-paris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/227591\/","title":{"rendered":"Fran\u00e7ois Pinault and Bernard Arnault’s Dueling Museums in Paris"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIF YOU HAD TO NAME THE TOP three museums in Paris<\/a>, you would probably tick off the three most established and iconic: the Louvre, the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay, and the Centre Pompidou. But if you had to name those most influential in the art world, it would be two that opened in the past decade: the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Bourse de Commerce. The private museums of the fashion world titans\u2014Bernard Arnault<\/a> and Fran\u00e7ois Pinault, respectively\u2014stare at each other across four miles and two arrondissements, past the Eiffel Tower, the Place de la Concorde, and the Arc de Triomphe. They are among the two most powerful private museums in the world, but have evolved in very different directions. <\/p>\n

\t\tRelated Articles<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"a<\/p>\n

\n\tWith Art Basel Paris growing ever more important, the fair\u2019s October time slot has taken on a new significance for both museums: It\u2019s when the eyes of the international art world focus most keenly on both of them. The two institutions are set to make a bigger impact than ever, but in very dissimilar ways. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Pinault Collection opened in Paris, at the Bourse de Commerce, in 2021.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Romain Laprade\/\u00a9Pinault Collection\/ADAGP, Paris<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Bourse de Commerce, one of several museums run by Pinault, opened in 2021, a year before the first Art Basel Paris, in the former Paris stock exchange. A symbol of 19th-century French economic might, it mushrooms from the ventre\u2014belly\u2014of Paris, as \u00c9mile Zola famously called the city\u2019s densely built center, where the old Les Halles food market once stood. Now a museum with a sleek, minimalist interior renovated by architect Tadao Ando, the Bourse mounts ambitious, standout shows of contemporary art: Urs Fischer, David Hammons, Miriam Cahn, Marlene Dumas, Ali Cherri, and Arthur Jafa are among the experimental and subversive artists it has shown, introducing Parisian audiences to emerging and established creators whose work they had yet to experience at such a spectacular scale at home. More recently, there was Boris Mikhailov and Anri Sala in 2022, and \u201cAmerican Mythologies\u201d (a group show featuring Mike Kelley, Lee Lozano, Mira Schor, and Ser Serpas) in 2023. Now, the Bourse is on to definitive exhibitions of art movements: Last year, it was Arte Povera; this year it\u2019s Minimalism. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tThe Bourse de Commerce\u2019s Arte Povera show helped redefine the movement.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Nicolas Brasseur\/Courtesy Pinault Collection, Paris<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Fondation Louis Vuitton (FLV), housed in a post-modern architectural construction that sprang to life in 2014, is on the western edge of town, where polished, stately, apartment-lined streets face the wooded Bois de Boulogne. The building\u2019s massive glass and steel shell designed by Frank Gehry bursts from the skyline like a deconstructed ship or a breaching whale. This museum has gone a very different route, spotlighting monographic and two-artist shows that tend to set, or reset, the markets for those artists. Since the first Art Basel Paris, in 2022, FLV, which also presents its own display at Art Basel Paris, has settled into a rhythm showing the greats of modern and contemporary art. Extravagant, unparalleled modern and contemporary blockbuster art exhibitions with broad appeal fill the museum\u2019s seasonal calendar, one after the other. A historic 2016 presentation of the Shchukin Collection, on loan from the Pushkin State Museum in Moscow, marked the first time many of the paintings in the collection had left Russia since they were bought from France, attracting a record number of visitors. This was followed by the equally acclaimed Morozov Collection in 2021. In 2022 came the first in a string of dual and single artist shows: the luminous \u201cMonet \u2013 Mitchell\u201d show, a market-making pairing that argued for Joan Mitchell\u2019s central importance in art history, followed by, in 2023, a once-in-alifetime Mark Rothko show. And then came last year\u2019s reassessment of the historically undervalued Pop painter Tom Wesselmann, whose work was everywhere during the city\u2019s simultaneous fair. This year brings a blockbuster Gerhard Richter exhibition, and we can expect a similar echo at the Grand Palais venue and surrounding showcases. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"PARIS,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBernard Arnault\u2019s Fondation Louis Vuitton opened in the Bois de Boulogne, on the edge
\nof Paris, in 2014.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Soltan\/Corbis via Getty<\/p>\n

\n\tBoth the FLV and the Bourse de Commerce are privately run institutions founded by French luxury goods business tycoons who are among the wealthiest men in the world, and fixtures on the ARTnews Top 200 Collectors list: Bernard Arnault, 76 (worth about $156 billion per the Bloomberg Billionaires Index), and Fran\u00e7ois Pinault, 88 (worth some $21.4 billion, as of mid-August, per the same source). Arnault\u2019s majorityowned luxury conglomerate LVMH Louis Vuitton Mo\u00ebt Hennessy (Christian Dior Couture, Givenchy, Fendi, Celine, Kenzo, Loewe, Bulgari, Tiffany, and others) funds FLV. The Bourse de Commerce, Pinault\u2019s Paris museum, and the third he\u2019s opened following two others in Venice, is dedicated to his collection. The Pinault Collection is a private company held by the Pinault family investment company Groupe Art\u00e9mis, the majority shareholder of the Pinault-founded Kering group (Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, et al.). The Collection signed a 50-year lease on the Bourse de Commerce building in 2016. <\/p>\n

\n\tArnault, tall and spindly, is often referred to as \u201cthe wolf in cashmere\u201d for his fierce business dealings. Pinault, stocky, with rounded, almost childlike facial features, is irreverently called the marchand de bois (wood vendor) in a nod to the industry that gave him his start. <\/p>\n

\n\tBetween the two, it hasn\u2019t exactly been la vie en rose. Their competing luxury fashion empires famously went head-to-head, spurring a legendary Gallic rivalry that came with painful costs to both. But while their differences on that score seem mostly to have healed, scars can run deep, leaving us with the question of whether and to what extent it has shifted to their mighty art empires. <\/p>\n

\n\tARGUABLY THE BIGGEST FISH IN THE pond that is the Paris art scene, the duo are regularly compared to the Rothschilds, and even the Medici. Few come close to having the size and breadth of their art troves (Pinault\u2019s has upward of 10,000 artworks, while no official numbers are given for Arnault\u2019s, apparently because some artworks come in series, 330 of which, by 120 artists, have been on display since the foundation opened), nor to engaging in arts and culture at a similar public and highly visible level, whether through exhibitions, acquisitions, or support of artists. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cToday they are not each other\u2019s preferred enemy, as used to be the case,\u201d said Joan Le Goff, professor of business strategy and management at IAE Paris-Est, and coauthor of a 2021 article in The Conversation US that analyzes the competition between them. \u201cThere is no major challenger at their level today, and even if they\u2019ve made peace in economic terms [because there are other adversaries to consider, notably in China], I think there is still this friendly competition between them in terms of the arts. There remains a kind of desire to emulate one another, that is very strong.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tSome examples: In 1998 Pinault purchased Christie\u2019s auction house, which was followed by Arnault\u2019s acquisition of Phillips in 1999, sold in 2002 at a loss. After dramatically failing to open an art center outside Paris, Pinault launched two art institutions in Venice, Palazzo Grassi in 2006 and Punta della Dogana in 2009. On the heels of Pinault\u2019s first, failed attempt to build a private museum just outside Paris, Arnault announced in 2014 the creation of, and then inaugurated, the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Soon afterward, Pinault revealed he would return to Paris with a new art institution, this time at the Bourse de Commerce. They also own competing wineries in Bordeaux, media publications, and more recently, entertainment businesses.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 2019 Pinault and Arnault gave back-to-back donations toward rebuilding the fire-damaged Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Pinault\u2019s family pledged \u20ac100 million to the Notre-Dame cause, followed the very next day by the Arnault family\u2019s gift of \u20ac200 million, in what the media dubbed the \u201cbattle of generosity.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThen there are the myriad reported comments, often without named sources, by both sides criticizing the other\u2019s arts initiatives. According to reporter Jean-Gabriel Fredet\u2019s telling in The Secret War of the Art Billionaires (2019), Pinault\u2019s team slammed Arnault\u2019s methods for obtaining a building permit for the FLV in the Bois de Boulogne, thanks to a late-night parliamentary amendment. And inversely, Arnault reportedly called the mayor of Paris \u201cto complain\u201d about the City\u2019s granting Pinault a 50-year lease on the Bourse de Commerce building without opening the process to alternative bidders.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom investigative tomes to academic studies to pithy media reports, much has been written about the two men, depicted facing off with clenched fists via their business groups and cultural teams. But it was hard to find evidence of such straightforward animosity between them today\u2014despite many Paris dealers still adhering to that view. (\u201cIt\u2019s no friendly rivalry\u2014it\u2019s a fierce one!\u201d said one dealer anonymously.) That said, Arnault and Pinault do appear bound in a competitive, strategic dance of their own, performed in full glamorous regalia on the French cultural stage. As for those in the audience, they may very well stand to benefit most. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c[Arnault and Pinault] have always been following each other closely,\u201d said Guillaume Piens, who runs the Art Paris fair. \u201cSo there\u2019s a kind of ego competition, but it\u2019s beneficial for all, because thanks to that, the perception of the contemporary art scene in France has really changed for foreigners. There was a shift when the two foundations opened \u2026 and they really contributed to that shift of Paris as a center for international contemporary art. There\u2019s a before and after in this sense.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tArnault and Pinault\u2019s respective institutions are indeed credited for dusting off the Paris art world, but they are not alone. Fueled by Brexit and dynamic initiatives in support of artists, the French capital has been all but transformed in a matter of a few years, attracting a steady flow of major international galleries, artists, and, as of 2024, the world\u2019s top art fair, Art Basel. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBoth Pinault and Arnault wanted to create that transformation in Paris and in areas around the country,\u201d Bernard Blist\u00e8ne, director of the Centre Pompidou from 2013 to 2021, told me over Zoom. \u201cThey complement each other. They knew, with much intelligence, how to do what the other would not do. And that is also certainly the brilliance of the strategy they have put in place.\u201d Competitive rivalries are arguably as much a driving part of art history as the very impulse to create. From warring Italian houses to artists and writers, some famous challengers range from Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo to the more recently portrayed opposition that fired tensions between \u00c9douard Manet and Edgar Degas. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, \u201cI think competition between people is always good,\u201d Piens said. \u201cThere\u2019s always been competition between patrons. It made the Renaissance happen.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThat may be, but when I set out to learn more about the legend of Pinault and Arnault\u2019s supposed match off and how it manifested specifically in the art world, as one might expect, I came up against a sleek, art-filled wall. But even this was ultimately revealing in its own way. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"TOPSHOT<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCeleste Boursier-Mougenot\u2019s clinamen (2025), installed under the Bourse de Commerce\u2019s cupola.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Xavier Galiana\/AFP via Getty<\/p>\n

\n\tIn early June, I went to visit the grand installation by C\u00e9leste Boursier-Mougenot set up under the cupola at the Bourse de Commerce. On any given day, the museum\u2019s glass-domed central hall has the hushed effect of a temple or cathedral. The outside world falls ever so slightly away. Boursier- Mougenot\u2019s work compounds this effect. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe artist floated hundreds of porcelain bowls on a circular sky-blue pool 60 feet across that mirrors the dome above; they swirl slowly on the water, swept by a gentle current, and chime softly like bells when they bump. As I walked around the musical pool, Pinault Collection general director Emma Lavigne, who herself can sometimes speak with a not dissimilar, ethereal softness, pointed to other artworks on view in nearby galleries that depict water. Together, the museum\u2019s summer exhibitions reflected a kind of \u201cflow,\u201d she rightly pointed out. <\/p>\n

\n\tMy questions to the museum\u2019s press rep, however, did not. I got a call: The museum had come to understand I had made the faux pas of asking directly for an interview with Pinault Collection president Guillaume Cerutti (until this year the chief executive of Christie\u2019s). As I expected, he had responded by email that he would not comment; but as a result, no one from the institution could speak to me for the story. Plus, the press rep added, any so-called rivalry was a \u201cfalsification of reality.\u201d They were equally certain that \u201cthe other side\u201d would feel the same, and refuse an interview on the topic. <\/p>\n

\n\tBut by then I had already sat for nearly an hour inside the LVMH headquarters perched on the luxury-brand-lined Avenue Montaigne with Bernard Arnault\u2019s right-hand adviser and head of arts and cultural patronage, Jean-Paul Claverie. Sitting across from me at a table, alone in a bare, white-walled conference room as Paris melted under the pounding heat outside, the onetime adviser to a former culture minister freely answered my questions in French about a \u201crivalry,\u201d and then some. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe perspectives of these different collectors is not one of rivalry, it\u2019s one of great curiosity. Meaning, it\u2019s about their respective interests,\u201d Claverie said, referring to Pinault and Arnault. \u201cTo each individual personality, his [or her] own dream, own world, own emotion\u2014that\u2019s what\u2019s so great. \u2026 The emergence of several different, private arts initiatives in Paris is fantastic. On that score, we can only congratulate ourselves, and the more there are, the better.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tAs for any talk of outdoing each other on recent donations to the Notre-Dame Cathedral, Claverie shot back: \u201cThose are absurd comments \u2026 stemming from a desire to create a conflict where there isn\u2019t one. \u2026 We really worked hand in hand to make the [Notre-Dame] restoration possible.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tIn fact, Claverie said that he and his team regularly visit exhibitions at the Bourse de Commerce, and Pinault has come often to the FLV, where Arnault or Claverie himself welcomes him. What both men truly feel about each other, and those visits to their respective institutions, is left largely to speculation by outsiders. So what fueled their initial quarrel?<\/p>\n

\n\tTheir historic rivalry in the luxury sector was famously sparked by Pinault\u2019s surprise purchase of a major stake in the Gucci company, right under Arnault\u2019s unsuspecting nose in 1999, leading to years of lawsuits. (The documentary series Kingdom of Dreams is just one dramatization of the saga from a fashion world perspective.) <\/p>\n

\n\tAfter news broke that Pinault\u2019s thennamed Pinault-Printemps-Redoute conglomerate had acquired a 42 percent stake in Gucci, the businessman told French reporters the move was \u201cnot against Monsieur Arnault or anyone else.\u201d But when asked whether he had discussed the decision with Arnault beforehand, Pinault famously quipped: \u201cI\u2019m not in the habit of saying, on the day we\u2019re going to declare war, what day we\u2019ll attack and where we\u2019ll attack \u2026\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe two businessmen\u2019s so-called \u201cbattle of the handbags\u201d eventually settled in court when Pinault bought Arnault\u2019s minority share of the brand for a \u20ac760 million profit in 2001. But cuts ran deep for years afterward. \u201cFrankly, I\u2019m staggered by this animosity. When [Arnault] got Sephora \u2026 though I coveted it too, I didn\u2019t get sick over it,\u201d Pinault reportedly told French writer St\u00e9phane Marchand, who reported that in response, Arnault said: \u201cThe difference is that I got Sephora fair and square.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tHOW MUCH OF THAT OLD BAD BLOOD remains is almost impossible to tell. Arnault and Pinault certainly share a love of art, and their tastes have converged in the past over blue-chip stars like Mark Rothko, David Hockney, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and Daniel Buren, to name a few, but they also come at it from starkly different approaches. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"PARIS,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tView of the Fondation Louis Vuitton\u2019s once-in-a-lifetime Mark Rothko exhibition, in 2024.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a9Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko<\/p>\n

\n\tPinault is well-known within the French and international gallery circuit, where he\u2019s been a regular for decades, sending his close advisers, such as Caroline Bourgeois, but also going to see shows in person. Dealers say he is eager to the meet the artists, and often ready to support lesser-known creators who strike a chord. \u201cSometimes, I come across a work that really stands out, a striking masterpiece that seems to call out to me, and that is a very good sign,\u201d he says in a video interview presented in a side room at the Bourse de Commerce. \u201cI experience an intense emotion, something grabs me, calls out to me when I\u2019m truly struck by a piece of work. I\u2019m often taken aback by this intensity, and sometimes feel a little trapped, because I tell myself that I cannot let this work get away.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"PARIS,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tFrom left, billionaire Fran\u00e7ois Pinault, his artistic adviser and collection curator, Caroline Bourgeois, and Bourse de Commerce deputy managing director Martin Bethenod, in the former Paris stock exchange\u2019s rotunda.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Bertrand Rindoff Petroff via Getty<\/p>\n

\n\tBut many were nevertheless surprised to learn the extent of his personal art collection when the Bourse de Commerce opened. \u201cYou could see that [Pinault\u2019s] selections were made over a long period, and that there was a real dialogue with the artist, whom he followed and supported. This showed the artist\u2019s trust,\u201d one Paris dealer told me.<\/p>\n

\n\tI am told that, on the other hand, Arnault, who is a trained classical pianist, is far less of a presence at contemporary art galleries. Over time, and with the help of advisers such as Suzanne Pag\u00e9 and Claverie, he has built a collection for the FLV that contains \u201cnothing but masterpieces,\u201d per another Paris art dealer. Though the collection\u2019s size remains a mystery, Arnault has a personal love for art from the first half of the 20th century, and particularly Vincent van Gogh, per his own confession to le Figaro in 2018. That said, the FLV collection contains mostly artworks dating from the 1960s to today, and is divided into the categories Contemplative, Pop, Expressionist, and Music & Sound.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHis interest in music, the emotion, the \u2018voyage\u2019 of interpreting a piece of music, or listening to it\u2014as he has said, is the same as what one can feel while contemplating a visual artwork,\u201d Claverie said. \u201cBernard Arnault has always been passionate about that.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tArnault was for years an outsider to the contemporary art scene, and it took some time for him to be accepted as more than the \u201cclich\u00e9 of the rich industrialist\u201d who \u201cintruded on the artistic scene,\u201d per Fredet\u2019s book. I found that to be true when speaking to Paris art dealers as well. But his contribution to national museum exhibitions, and then the creation of the FLV, with its unmatched exhibitions, helped change all that. \u201cPeople talk about what they don\u2019t know,\u201d responded Claverie. \u201cThe truth can be found in what [Arnault] gets done\u2014his actions,\u201d he said, noting that for more than 30 years, Arnault has been a major donor to French culture, education, and humanitarian causes. In a further example of his \u201cauthentic\u201d approach, Claverie pointed out that the FLV has not sold any artworks from its collection. <\/p>\n

\n\tStill, at first, opening an art foundation \u201cwasn\u2019t our field,\u201d and \u201cconsiderable risks were taken,\u201d Claverie said. \u201cYou\u2019re exposing a lot.\u201d Even for the massively successful Shchukin exhibition, \u201ceverything was set up for it to fail,\u201d but \u201ctoday, we\u2019re on the map.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tView of \u201cIcons of Modern Art:
\nThe Shchukin Collection\u201a\u201d
\n2016\u201317, at the Fondation
\nLouis Vuitton.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Martin Argyroglo\/Courtesy Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris<\/p>\n

\n\tTHE SUCCESS OF BOTH INSTITUTIONS is undeniable, but many have legitimate concerns about what such private museums mean for the future of their public counterparts, as well as their outsize influence on which artists get recognized, and questions about taxpayer contributions to the building of self-promoting private projects. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe duo \u201care all-powerful,\u201d a wellconnected arts worker told me on condition of anonymity. That might be going too far, but there is truth to her descriptor. It should be noted that several art dealers all but pleaded with me to swear to keep their name out of this story. Fear of consequences to their career was palpable. And as public museums continue to hemorrhage government funding, patronage from private donors such as Arnault and Pinault is increasingly essential, an issue that has many in France fearing for the independence of their storied cultural centers. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the Bourse de Commerce opened, another Paris dealer told me she was deeply impressed by the extent of the collection but was also left shaken. From the swanky topfloor caf\u00e9 of Pinault\u2019s new museum, she could see, as though it were just an arm\u2019s-length away, the Centre Pompidou opposite, now preparing to close for years of renovations. It is a view that was until then unknown to the public. \u201cIt was like a terrible blow. Suddenly, we saw the changing balance of power,\u201d she said. Plus, she reminded me that the best and brightest of France\u2019s public institutions were also being poached by private art museums. \u201cWe\u2019re emptying the substance of public institutions, because of power grabs by these private institutions,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not a question of whether or not private institutions will usurp public ones \u2026 it\u2019s already the case. What is happening in the Anglo-Saxon world has come here.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tYet today, you\u2019d be hard pressed to deny that Pinault and Arnault have helped whip the French capital into one of the most exciting cultural destinations in the world. And as the dealer suggested, the reality is such that public museums must work with private donors. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe need support from these [wealthy] individuals, and it would be tantamount to biting the hand that feeds [us] not to recognize that,\u201d Blist\u00e8ne, the former Pompidou director, said. But he observed that the rise of private museums has also meant public institutions have slipped further down the list of priorities when it comes time to hand out checks. The Louvre and other French museums are historically built on major donations from private collections, so changes to that tradition, Blist\u00e8ne added, \u201calso brought the necessity and opportunity to reinvent ourselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere are undoubtedly thousands of ways for similarly wealthy individuals to manifest their interest for social \u2026 and other causes of various kinds,\u201d he continued. \u201cBoth [Arnault and Pinault] wanted to build these absolutely extraordinary foundations, and in a certain manner, anticipate what we\u2019ve seen manifest today: a complementary, friendly relationship between public authorities and private entities.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tOther major collectors and private initiatives figure in the mix too: The Fondation Cartier is opening a new location this fall opposite the Louvre, near the Bourse de Commerce. And Laurent Dumas, the president of French real-estate developer Emerige, is set to open a new private art center on the \u00cele Seguin, west of Paris, next year. <\/p>\n

\n\tYet many fear this comes at a cost to taxpayers. Speaking to ARTnews by phone, professor of the science of management at the University of Paris I Panth\u00e9on-Sorbonne, Jean-Michel Tobelem argued that taxpayers should also be kept out of financing private museums that enjoy \u201cpriceless\u201d branding and marketing benefits for the luxury labels they directly or indirectly symbolize. When the FLV was built, LVMH businesses reportedly benefited from \u20ac518 million in tax deductions out of more than \u20ac800 million spent between 2007 and 2017, leading to a legal complaint that was eventually dismissed, and virulent backlash from many who argued that Arnault should have declined such a generous payback, since his conglomerate could afford to front the full bill. \u201cWhy should the French taxpayer contribute indirectly to the financial participation of a business activity that is clearly promotional?\u201d Tobelem asked. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLike any responsible organization, we work within the framework of the regulations to make sure we are efficient,\u201d Claverie explained later, in writing. \u201cOur approach makes it possible for us to support the arts on a broad scale. [FLV] plays a key role, but it\u2019s just one part of what we do for the arts. For example, in the past two years alone, as part of our support for museums, we helped the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay buy Caillebotte\u2019s Boating Party and made a major contribution toward the Louvre\u2019s acquisition of Chardin\u2019s Basket of Wild Strawberries.\u201d <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Boating<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLVMH paid $47 million to acquire Gustave Caillebotte\u2019s A Boating Party (1877\u201378) for the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay in 2023.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto Leemage\/Corbis via Getty<\/p>\n

\n\tIt should be added that both Arnault and Pinault declined to accept tax benefits from their donations to the reconstruction of the Notre-Dame. A sign of a lesson learned? <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cBernard Arnault always had in mind\u2014and it was what we talked about when we met\u2014 that the economic success of these maisons [LVMH luxury brands] \u2026 can build bridges with the artistic and cultural world,\u201d Claverie said. \u201cPart of the success of our maisons must be given back to culture in general, to artists, and to the public,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, at the Bourse de Commerce, I\u2019m regularly reminded that the museum is not a foundation, and therefore doesn\u2019t benefit from a corresponding tax break. Pinault himself made this point at a 2017 presentation about his then-forthcoming Paris institution, in what was seen at the time as a jab at his competitor. \u201cThe role of the state is not to finance a foundation,\u201d Pinault said. <\/p>\n

\n\tAt the same time, by keeping his museum essentially a private enterprise, Pinault maintains full control. This includes the ability to deduct depreciation from taxable income, but also to sell artworks more easily, which he\u2019s controversially been known to do. The sale of several pieces by Adrian Ghenie about six months after they were shown in Pinault\u2019s Venice space is an oft-cited example. Another is the sale of artworks by Damien Hirst after Pinault mounted a massive double exhibition dedicated to him in 2017 at the collector\u2019s two Venice spaces. Many see a conflict of interest as well in his ownership of Christie\u2019s, which facilitates sales. <\/p>\n

\n\tBoth men can also thank the French government\u2019s support for at least a good chunk of their success. Government policies helped them acquire bankrupt or failing businesses under the condition\u2014not always met\u2014that they maintain workers\u2019 jobs at the newly acquired enterprise. <\/p>\n

\n\tPinault, born in Champs-G\u00e9raux, Brittany, to a family of modest timber traders, dropped out of school at age 16, and after serving in the army during the Algerian war, began working in the family timber business. In 1962 he launched his own timber-selling company called Les \u00c9tablissements Fran\u00e7ois Pinault, and began showing his talent as a shrewd dealmaker. He acquired other timber and related companies at low cost, which he was known to turn around after drastically reducing staff. He soon expanded to the department store Printemps, and the mailorder company La Redoute, and formed the group Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, later renamed PPR, and eventually, Kering. <\/p>\n

\n\tPinault founded the family holding company Art\u00e9mis in 1992, to which he transferred his 42 percent share of PPRturned- Kering. He added other high-end brands, including vineyards such as Ch\u00e2teau Latour in Bordeaux, Christie\u2019s, the soccer club Stade Rennais FC, and the magazine Le Point. In 2003 he handed over the reins of his business empire to his son, Fran\u00e7ois- Henri Pinault, one of his three children from his first of two marriages, who is married to actress Salma Hayek. Under his son\u2019s leadership, Art\u00e9mis moved further away from wood trading and retail operations, into luxury fashion. <\/p>\n

\n\tMore recently, Fran\u00e7ois-Henri bought a majority stake in the Hollywood talent agency CAA. (Arnault soon after created a new studio, 22 Montaigne Entertainment.) <\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in Roubaix, Bernard Arnault grew up in northern France\u2019s upper-class milieu, thanks to his father\u2019s small northern French construction and civil engineering business, then called Ferret-Savinel. After attending the elite \u00c9cole Polytechnique engineering school in Paris, he began his career in his father\u2019s company, and by the mid-1970s, reoriented it toward tourism real estate. In a landmark opportunity, he acquired the struggling French textile group Boussac in 1984, which included the Christian Dior brand, then heavily in debt, as well as the Bon March\u00e9 department store. He too laid off thousands of workers and drastically pared down the brand\u2019s assets, selling off all the other brands in the conglomerate, except the two companies he prized above all: Dior and Bon March\u00e9. Dior\u2014a brand beloved by Arnault\u2019s mother\u2014became the cornerstone of his strategy for building the world\u2019s largest luxury conglomerate, numbering 75 brands. To get to that point, he took over a series of prestigious labels in some controversial but perfectly timed moves that included ousting former top executives. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Arnault family\u2019s holding company, Agache, established a tech-focused venturecapital firm called Agla\u00e9 Ventures in 2017. Prior to that, Agache (as Groupe Arnault) had supported such start-ups as Spotify, Netflix, and Airbnb. <\/p>\n

\n\tAS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION, Pinault\u2019s three children from the first of two marriages appear less interested in the arts, but his grandson, Fran\u00e7ois Louis Pinault, the son of Fran\u00e7ois-Henri, recently joined the Christie\u2019s board. Meanwhile, Arnault\u2019s five children are all involved in LVMH, and appear greatly interested in art and the future of the FLV. His eldest daughter, Delphine Arnault, chairperson and CEO of Christian Dior Couture, is particularly invested in contemporary art and artists, and serves on Gagosian gallery\u2019s board of directors. The family is known to be close to Larry Gagosian himself, but rumors that Arnault was poised to buy the gallery from him have been firmly denied. <\/p>\n

\n\tDelphine \u201ccomes from a famous family. But that doesn\u2019t have anything to do with me and her sitting around talking,\u201d artist Mark Bradford said, speaking to Vogue for a story that sketched out an artist and art-filled dinner hosted by Delphine. <\/p>\n

\n\tOn the topic of succession, and looking ahead to the not-so-distant future, I asked Claverie if the two art and luxury empires\u2014 Pinault and Arnault\u2014would ever consider working together to create a project of their own. \u201cWe don\u2019t forbid ourselves anything, and anything is possible,\u201d he said. \u201cArt has no boundaries.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"IF YOU HAD TO NAME THE TOP three museums in Paris, you would probably tick off the three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":227592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[108703,76,354,355,108704,49,48,356,75,108705,13782,108706],"class_list":{"0":"post-227591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-artnews-top-200-collctors","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-arts-and-design","11":"tag-artsanddesign","12":"tag-bernard-arnault","13":"tag-ca","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-design","16":"tag-entertainment","17":"tag-francois-pinault","18":"tag-paris","19":"tag-top-200-2025"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/227592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}