Paris - April 21, 2014 - Fondation Louis Vuitton
It’s an engineers delight! All glass and steel. Waves and curves. Cantilevers and bulges.
The point of visiting this art gallery? The building. It’s the full show.
I left the hotel in the 15th Arrondissement, walking three minutes to cross a park and then the Pont de Grenelle - as always, waving a hello to the back of the Statute of Liberty (the original of France's gift that sits on an island in New York City). My goal? Walk across the 16th Arrondissement, through the Bois de Boulogne to the sails of Fondation Louis Vuitton.
It was a lucky turn of a page in a brochure while standing in the line at the airport to buy my ticket on the train to downtown Paris. Frank Gehry’s name jumped out at me. A Canadian architect - only because he was born in Canada - his office is in the United States, his clients all over the world. As far as I know he has done one commission in Canada. The Art Galley of Ontario addition about 15 years ago. Because the art gallery is jammed between buildings on a busy street in downtown Toronto, one really can’t see the full impact of his cigar shaped addition overlooking Dundas Street. The Pencil Box around the corner is much more impressive - and imaginative.
Back to Mr. Gehry. He was the genius behind the Guggenheim Gallery in Bilbao in northern Spain. The building put that city on the international art tour map. It’s brilliant. It has lots and lots of space on the side of a river to properly see and appreciate the architecture.
It is simply stunning. A must visit. Great galleries large enough to hold the largest of Richard Serra’s elliptical sculptures. They are massive pieces of steel perfectly balanced. Also a must see.
Back to Mr. Gehry and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. That is the correct name of the sailing ship, with massive billows of glass and steel floating above a reflecting pool - pool is too small a word, too small an image for the massiveness of the many sails. From far down the garden it looks like a giant bug. From the pool it looks like a16th century galleon. From up above it feels like you are in a space ship opened to the heavens to release its mini fleet of boats to explore the universe.
There is no good time to visit to avoid crowds. There is plenty of room - by the time you climb four floors you do have the place to yourself or at least with many fewer people. Order tickets on line - that will save you at least an hour on site. The restaurant needs to be booked well in advance. Measure that in weeks, not days. But try your luck. I did on site. Nada. But it was fun to see the entrance to the place while I politely asked.
Also go to the washrooms whether needed or not. Walk the stairs but also go into the elevator. Just to see if you can figure out which buttons to push. I’m not an engineer. Hopefully you are.
When leaving stand back and take one last look. Spectacular.
Then disappear into the woods for the walk back. Your phone battery needs to be fully charged. The map of the wood's walking paths are on Apple. I assume on Google but I didn’t talk to anyone to find out.
A model.
A many scaled bug.
