Gustave Fayet’s Collection and Creative Work Meet at Fondation Louis Vuitton

Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Gustave Fayet. Collector – Creator is scheduled from 9 October 2026 to 8 March 2027. In an announcement published on the opening date, LVMH said the exhibition brings together 728 works and documents, pairing Fayet’s modern-art collection with his own creative practice.

Collection reference gallery: ten museum images show six works, including the two sides of one sheet and three closer or differently lit views. Cleveland’s records list the first three paintings in the 2026–27 exhibition. The NGA works are included for their documented Fayet provenance, without claiming they are loans to this show. Redon’s possible Fayet ownership remains qualified. These are collection photographs, not installation views or reproductions of Fayet’s own work.

Cover: Vincent van Gogh. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209. Gift of the Hanna Fund. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

The presentation includes works by Van Gogh, Gauguin and Odilon Redon, alongside Fayet’s painting and decorative work. It also reunites loans from a collection dispersed after his death in 1925. Robert Carsen has created the exhibition’s scenography.

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  Overall view. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy). Cleveland’s record lists this Van Gogh in Fayet’s provenance and in the Fondation Louis Vuitton exhibition of 2026–27. Vincent van Gogh. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209. Gift of the Hanna Fund. CC0 1.0.

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  Overall view. Symbolic Head. Cleveland lists the work in the exhibition, but qualifies its earlier ownership as possibly Gustave Fayet. That uncertainty is retained. Odilon Redon. Symbolic Head, c. 1890. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1988.91. Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund. CC0 1.0.

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  Overall view. In the Waves (Dans les Vagues). Cleveland records Fayet’s ownership in 1906–07 and lists the painting in the 2026–27 exhibition history. Paul Gauguin. In the Waves (Dans les Vagues), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.63. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones. CC0 1.0.

1. Overall view. Cleveland’s record lists this Van Gogh in Fayet’s provenance and in the Fondation Louis Vuitton exhibition of 2026–27. Vincent van Gogh. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209. Gift of the Hanna Fund. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

2. Overall view. Cleveland lists the work in the exhibition, but qualifies its earlier ownership as possibly Gustave Fayet. That uncertainty is retained. Odilon Redon. Symbolic Head, c. 1890. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1988.91. Gift of the Mildred Andrews Fund. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

3. Overall view. Cleveland records Fayet’s ownership in 1906–07 and lists the painting in the 2026–27 exhibition history. Paul Gauguin. In the Waves (Dans les Vagues), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.63. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

The dual identity in the title offers an unusually useful way to look. A collection can be approached as a sequence of choices: which works are brought together, what is repeated and what remains different. A maker’s practice asks another set of questions about materials, scale and use. Seeing the two alongside one another can encourage visitors to think about taste as an active, sometimes contradictory process.

It would be too simple to assume that everything Fayet collected directly explains something he made. Visual resemblance is an invitation to investigate, rather than proof of influence. A rewarding visit might instead follow a single question across the rooms. Does a colour behave differently in a painting and a decorative object? What changes when an image becomes part of a surface intended to inhabit a room?

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  Overall view. Haystacks in Brittany. The NGA traces this painting to Fayet by 1904. It is shown here as a collection-history reference, not a confirmed exhibition loan. Paul Gauguin. Haystacks in Brittany, 1890. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1972.9.11. Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman. CC0 1.0.

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  Overall view. Self-Portrait Dedicated to Carrière. The NGA records Fayet’s acquisition in 1906. The portrait adds another documented collecting choice; no influence on Fayet’s own work is assumed. Paul Gauguin. Self-Portrait Dedicated to Carrière, 1888 or 1889. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985.64.20. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. CC0 1.0.

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  Recto. Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [recto]. The NGA includes Fayet in this sheet’s provenance. This is the recto: a traced monotype, printed twice. Paul Gauguin. Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [recto], 1899/1900. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995.47.41.a. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. CC0 1.0.

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  Verso. Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [verso]. The verso of the same sheet uses graphite and blue pencil. Showing both sides makes the object’s material record visible. Paul Gauguin. Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [verso], 1899/1900. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995.47.41.b. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. CC0 1.0.

4. Overall view. The NGA traces this painting to Fayet by 1904. It is shown here as a collection-history reference, not a confirmed exhibition loan. Paul Gauguin. Haystacks in Brittany, 1890. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1972.9.11. Gift of the W. Averell Harriman Foundation in memory of Marie N. Harriman. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

5. Overall view. The NGA records Fayet’s acquisition in 1906. The portrait adds another documented collecting choice; no influence on Fayet’s own work is assumed. Paul Gauguin. Self-Portrait Dedicated to Carrière, 1888 or 1889. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985.64.20. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

6. Recto. The NGA includes Fayet in this sheet’s provenance. This is the recto: a traced monotype, printed twice. Paul Gauguin. Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [recto], 1899/1900. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995.47.41.a. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

7. Verso. The verso of the same sheet uses graphite and blue pencil. Showing both sides makes the object’s material record visible. Paul Gauguin. Two Tahitians Gathering Fruit [verso], 1899/1900. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995.47.41.b. Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

The decorative arts are especially important to that approach. They allow an exhibition about collecting to move beyond the autonomous masterpiece and toward the broader environment in which art is encountered. Texture, repetition and the relationship between object and setting can become part of the discussion, alongside the familiar language of artists and movements.

The exhibition’s scale makes selectivity sensible. There is no need to give every item the same duration of attention. Choose a small number of works, compare them carefully and use the surrounding material to test an initial impression. The attraction of this project is its capacity to complicate a name: Fayet can be read through what he assembled, what he produced and the different connections that a visitor is able to make between them.

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  Museum detail photograph. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy). A museum-supplied detail concentrates attention on the painted surface. It is a closer view of image 1, not another work. Vincent van Gogh. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209. Gift of the Hanna Fund. CC0 1.0.

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  Museum raking-light photograph. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy). Cleveland’s file labels this a raking-light view. Lighting changes the recorded surface; it is not evidence of a different painting. Vincent van Gogh. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209. Gift of the Hanna Fund. CC0 1.0.

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  Museum detail photograph. In the Waves (Dans les Vagues). This supplied detail narrows the comparison to the figure’s contour and surrounding colour. The original complete view remains above. Paul Gauguin. In the Waves (Dans les Vagues), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.63. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones. CC0 1.0.

8. Museum detail photograph. A museum-supplied detail concentrates attention on the painted surface. It is a closer view of image 1, not another work. Vincent van Gogh. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209. Gift of the Hanna Fund. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

9. Museum raking-light photograph. Cleveland’s file labels this a raking-light view. Lighting changes the recorded surface; it is not evidence of a different painting. Vincent van Gogh. The Large Plane Trees (Road Menders at Saint-Rémy), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.209. Gift of the Hanna Fund. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

10. Museum detail photograph. This supplied detail narrows the comparison to the figure’s contour and surrounding colour. The original complete view remains above. Paul Gauguin. In the Waves (Dans les Vagues), 1889. Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.63. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. William Powell Jones. CC0 1.0. Museum record · CC0 1.0

Sources

https://www.lvmh.com/en/news-lvmh/fondation-louis-vuitton-celebrates-gustave-fayet-in-a-landmark-exhibition