Fondation Louis Vuitton

Overview

Anchoring the edge of the Bois de Boulogne, the Fondation Louis Vuitton is a spectacular, fiercely modern art museum and cultural center. Designed by star architect Frank Gehry, it resembles a massive, glowing glass ship navigating a sea of green trees.

Highlights

• The Architecture: Composed of 3,600 unique, curving glass panels forming massive "sails" that incredibly manage to look both incredibly heavy and totally weightless.
• The Terraces: Wind through the sprawling, multi-level exterior terraces under the overlapping glass sails for superb, highly unique views of western Paris and the Eiffel Tower.
• The Exhibitions: It is an aggressively funded contemporary art space, securing world-class, blockbuster temporary exhibitions of highly important international art.

History

Funded entirely by Bernard Arnault (the billionaire chairman of LVMH) with a staggering budget, the museum opened in 2014. The incredibly complex engineering required to build Gehry's sweeping, erratic glass design resulted in over 30 new construction patents.

Visitor Tips

• Transport: It is located quite far from the central Metro lines. The museum operates electric shuttle buses from the Arc de Triomphe (Charles de Gaulle-Étoile station) that run every 15 minutes.
• Booking: It is highly popular. Always book skip-the-line tickets in advance.
• Duration: 2–3 hours.