Valuable Morozov art collection returns to Paris

Paris, Sep 23 (EFE).- The Morozov collection, one of the most valuable collections of modern art, is going on show in Paris Friday .

The exhibition hosted by the Louis Vuitton Foundation will display 200 paintings, sculptures and photographs formerly owned by Russian brothers Mikhail and Ivan Morozov, now in the hands of the Russian state.

The collection starts with portraits of the Russian family and their friends by Russian Valéntin Sérov, a painter who also advised the brothers on their buys.

In the next rooms of the show, works of art by Picasso, Matisse, Cézanne, Gauguin, Renoir, Monet and Manet among others will be displayed.

Born into a Muscovite family of textilers in the 19th century, Mikhail (1870-1903) and Ivan (1871-1921) saw in artists of their generation a talent that went beyond their economic value.

“This exhibition shows that the collection makes sense, it has a clear line of conduct. They were interested in the artist from the beginning,” Anna Campo, the exhibition’s mediator, told EFE.

“As we see in Matisse, they bought his most classical pieces from the start to the moment when modernity, color and lines burst into his work,” she added.

Despite political tensions between French president Emmanuel Macron and his counterpart Vladimir Putin, the Russian president has been one of the main drivers of the project.

“For him, culture must always be an open door,” advisor to the president of LVMH luxury group, Jean-Paul Claverie, told Le Parisien newspaper.

“Here we see that there is an understanding of the French soul and the Russian soul. We have projects in common with Russia, above and beyond what separates us.” EFE