Gustave Fayet, Collectionneur - Créateur. Icônes de l'art moderne

Fondation Louis Vuitton

Following in the tradition of the « Icônes de l'art moderne » exhibitions, devoted to great collectors such as Sergueï Chtchoukine, the brothers Mikhaïl Morozov and Ivan Morozov, as well as Samuel Courtauld, the Fondation continues its exploration of pioneering figures who shaped the history of modern art with an exceptional exhibition: « Gustave Fayet, collectionneur - créateur », presented from 9 October 2026 to 8 March 2027. This large-scale project occupies the entirety of the Fondation Louis Vuitton's spaces through a two-part itinerary — Gustave Fayet collectionneur and Gustave Fayet, créateur — revealing the singularity of a journey in which collection, creation and artistic commitment respond to one another. The exhibition thus paints the portrait of an essential figure of modernity at the turn of the century, one who is unjustly forgotten today. The exhibition constitutes an unprecedented event. It brings together, on the one hand, for the first time in a century, more than 250 works from an extraordinary collection, now scattered throughout the world, and, on the other hand, 325 creations by Gustave Fayet, most of which have never been shown to the public and have been restored for the occasion. The exhibition highlights a group of 10 paintings by Vincent van Gogh, 78 works by Paul Gauguin, 88 works by Odilon Redon, as well as paintings and pastels by Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Berthe Morisot, Paul Signac, Pierre Bonnard, Edouard Vuillard and Henri Matisse. The fruit of several years of research, the exhibition benefits from the support of 64 international institutions and 71 private collections. This unprecedented exhibition unveils a leading figure, gradually relegated to oblivion: Gustave Fayet (1865-1925), a passionate collector, artist, and prolific creator, was also a tireless and exceptional entrepreneur, visionary in the field of decorative arts. Behind this little-known name lies in fact one of the greatest champions and discoverers of the avant-garde of his time, a man who actively contributed to the emergence of modern art in all its forms. Gustave Fayet was indeed among the first to collect van Gogh, to exhibit Picasso, and to establish in his home, in the very heart of Paris, a « musée Gauguin », rich with nearly 200 works, where all the artists and great collectors of the era flocked. A friend and fervent admirer of Redon, he gave him the opportunity to create a major decorative scheme, which remained secret, in his abbey in the South of France at Fontfroide. Gustave Fayet was not only an exceptional collector who assembled more than 740 major works of modern art (excluding prints). In the second part of his life, he was also a creator whose success marked the decorative arts of the early 20th century. Painter, watercolourist, ceramicist, decorator, creator of carpets, fabrics and wallpapers, book illustrator, he embodies that generation for which art permeated every aspect of life. His creations, distributed in the greatest galleries and major salons of his time, captivated figures as influential as Paul Poiret, Jacques Doucet and Jeanne Lanvin. From Art Nouveau to Art Deco, Fayet fully participated in the invention of a new art of living in which fine arts and decorative arts merged. For Gustave Fayet, collecting and creating were united in a single momentum. This first international-scale event devoted to this singular figure, a pioneer in many respects, unveils a rich and abundant universe and opens a new chapter in the modern art and decorative arts of the early 20th century. This ambitious project brings together a total of 740 works and documents divided between the exhibition's two parts.

Source: Paris Open Data ↗