Gehry art museum drops anchor in Paris

The Louis Vuitton Foundation art museum and cultural centre, created by American architect Frank Gehry, is photographed during the inauguration of the Gehry latest creation in Paris.

The Louis Vuitton Foundation art museum and cultural centre, created by American architect Frank Gehry, is photographed during the inauguration of the Gehry latest creation in Paris.

Published Oct 29, 2014

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Paris - A new multi-million-dollar contemporary art museum designed by star Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry opened to the public in a Paris park.

Gehry's creation for the Foundation Louis Vuitton has been hailed as one of the most inventive of his more-than-five-decade career.

Twelve curved glass panels like billowing sails wrap around a central structure housing 11 galleries that will show works from the private collection of billionaire LVHM chief executive Bernard Arnault.

Inaugurating the building last week, French President Francois Hollande called it a “miracle of intelligence, creativity and technology.”

The latest, audacious addition to the French capital's museum collection was built on land leased from the City of Paris, which will become owner of the building in 50 years from now.

Luxury goods magnate Arnault is France's richest man, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine at $30-billion and an art collection that he has been building for half a century.

He hired 85-year-old Gehry to design the museum after seeing his Guggenheim Museum in the Spanish port city of Bilbao, which has also been compared to a fantasy ship. - Sapa-dpa

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