Vuitton Foundation’s Russian Show: No Putin
I’m happy just to bask in the building, but sometimes there’s an intriguing show inside: An exhibition reuniting Modern masterpieces from the historic collection of Sergei Shchukin is due to open next week at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris without the presence of Vladimir Putin. The Russian president has cancelled his long-planned trip to France after his French counterpart, François Hollande, suggested Russia committed war crimes in Syria by supporting the bombing of Aleppo. The meeting was called off when the French government indicated that talks would be confined to Syria, the BBC reports.
The two leaders were expected to inaugurate a Kremlin-funded Russian Orthodox cathedral and cultural centre in Paris on 19 October and to visit the exhibition Icons of Modern Art: the Shchukin Collection (22 October-20 February 2017) at the Fondation Louis Vuitton. Those events “fell out of the programmeâ€, a Kremlin spokesman told the official Russian news agency Ria Novosti today. The Fondation Louis Vuitton declined to comment.
