On a recent trip to Paris, my family and I visited the Fondation Louis Vuitton housed in a building designed by Frank Gehry and located within the luscious landscape of the Bois de Boulogne on the west side of Paris. Afterward, we spent the remainder of the day in the Jardin d’Acclimatation where our kids, ages eleven and six, indulged in the many rides that this amusement park has to offer just steps away from Frank Gehry’s building. The FLV opened to the public in 2014 and the Jardin d’Acclimatation was restored, updated and reopened to the public in 2017. This fairly new pair of Parisian attractions is appealing to both adults and children and when combined makes for an ideal family day.
I purchased tickets ahead of time just to be on the safe side and paid €32 for admission as a family to the FLV and the Jardin d’Acclimation. There was a very short line for entry to the FLV when we arrived by taxi and could have easily purchased tickets on the spot if needed. Keep in mind that we were in Paris at the end of August when many Parisians, les aoûtiens, have left the city for their own summer vacation. There were plenty of tourists to be found around other attractions but luckily for us, the foundation was fairly quiet which made for ideal conditions to move through the space with ease.
We were dropped off right at the entrance of the FLV, but for visitors using public transportation, the foundation offers a free shuttle to and from the metro station just outside the park. For access onto this shuttle, pre-purchased tickets to the FLV are required. Otherwise, it is about a 15-20 minute walk from the metro stop, bus stop and parking garage, all located around the entrances to the park. On a nice day, I imagine it would be a pleasant walk.
Our visit took place in August 2019 but I am writing this post during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020 when all forms of public amusement have been shut down to ensure that people to stay home to prevent the spread of this virus. In accordance with these restrictions, the FLV and Jardin d’Acclimatation are closed until further notice.
The exterior shell of the FLV building is a striking arrangement of curved glass panels challenging the laws of gravity. Gehry’s design pays homage to iconic glass structures in Paris from the previous century: the Grand Palais des Champs-Élyséesrand Palais built for the Universal Exposition in 1900 and I.M. Pei’s Louvre Pyramid. The LVF’s curved glass panels float effortlessly and elegantly around the central structure encasing the foundation’s art collection. The building, when viewed from afar, is evocative of a massive sailboat. It dazzles the eye whether viewed from the outside or from within when walking around the terraces that fill the spaces between the building’s core and the exterior panels. Taking in this dynamic building was an experience unto itself that was complimented by the installations in the galleries as well as on the terraces.
Our visit coincided with the exhibition The Collection of the Foundation. A Vision in Painting featuring 70 works by 23 international artists from the 1960s to the present day. It was a loose interpretation of painting that wandered from the canvases of Joan Mitchell and Gerhardt Richter to a room filled with mirrors reflecting a landscape of polka-dotted phallic-shaped forms by Yayoi Kusama. It was about a twenty minute wait to enter the installation by Kusama, world-renown Japanese artist whose Instagram-friendly infinity rooms have become an art world phenomenon. This ninety-one year old artist’s career spans many decades and I have always thought of her work as quirky, eccentric and colorfully fun to engage with as a viewer.
On one of the terraces we were engulfed by Jesus Rafael Soto’s interactive kinetic sculpture, Pénétrable BBL bleu, made of thousands of blue PVC strands suspended from above and covering a square space large enough to accommodate multiple penetrations at the same time. This Venezuelan kinetic artist, painter and sculptor was based in Paris for most of his life until his passing in 2005 and is most well known for kinetic sculptures such as the one at the FLV. The kids loved the interactive component of this piece and spent a long time “contemplating” and activating this work through their movements inside the space. They ran, jumped, danced, stuck poses and more as the pieces of strings fell over their bodies – complete contact between material and body. At the time, the opportunity to walk, run and experience a work like this through touch was taken for granted. These opportunities are most likely not going to an option when cultural spaces cautiously re-open following the Covid-19 pandemic. As boundaries are redefined in this age of social distancing, I question whether we will ever be able to experience a Kusama or Soto installation as we had in the past.
It took about two hours to fully explore the space of the Fondation Louis Vuitton before we crossed over to the land of amusement and beauty otherwise known as the Jardin d’Acclimatation. The kids were jumping for joy when they discovered all of the rides on hand for their enjoyment with little to no waiting lines. This park was exceptional for its cleanliness and friendliness, not to mention its location filled with beautifully manicured gardens, all within site of the FLV. The weather during our stay in Paris was cooler and damper than we had anticipated but this final day was the sunniest of all ensuring that we ended our visit on a high note.
Although the family entry ticket that I had purchased ahead of time included admission to the Jardin d’Acclimatation, we still had to purchase tickets for each ride. We ended buying about $100 worth of tickets along the way. I think there were better deals to be had but we were unable to make sense of them when purchasing tickets from the machines located around the park. There are ticket sellers in booths around the entrance of the park right next to the FLV, which we had bypassed but noticed on our way out of the park. I believe an attendant would have steered us towards the best package for our kids. In any case, it was money well spent because this was a special treat for the kids. This was a perfect day in Paris!
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