{"id":5947,"date":"2021-09-24T18:51:37","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T16:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/?p=5947"},"modified":"2024-05-03T11:21:35","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T09:21:35","slug":"a-brief-history-of-luxury-the-morozov-brothers-collection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.luxus-plus.com\/en\/a-brief-history-of-luxury-the-morozov-brothers-collection\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief history of luxury: The Morozov brothers’ collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

From September 22, 2021 to February 22, 2022, the Fondation Louis Vuitton will host the impressive modern art collection of the Morozov brothers, two Russian collectors who are passionate about the arts of the late 19th century. Here is a look at this collection of more than 200 works, including paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh, and Monet.<\/p>\n

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After the success of the exhibition<\/strong> of Russian<\/strong> collector<\/strong> Sergei Chtchoukine<\/strong>, which recorded 1.3 million visitors until March 2017, the Louis Vuitton Foundation<\/strong> decided to repeat the experience by hosting the collection<\/strong> of the Morozov<\/strong> brothers, friends, and contemporaries of Chtchoukine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Paul C\u00e9zanne, Paysage. Montagne Sainte-Victoire<\/em>, Aix-en-Provence, env. 1896-1898. \u00a9 Hermitage Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Born into a family of Moscow industrialists specializing in textiles, the Morozov brothers<\/strong> were wealthy Russian heirs<\/strong> with a passion for modern art<\/strong>. Born in 1870 and 1871 respectively, Mikhail<\/strong> and Ivan Morozov<\/strong>, the two brothers, were immersed in a cultural environment and received a good artistic<\/strong> education at an early age.<\/p>\n

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Their mother, Varvara Morozova<\/strong>, had unconditional love for art<\/strong> and France<\/strong>. When she died, part of her fortune was left to the workers of her factories. The eldest son, Mikhail<\/strong>, inherited his mother’s f<\/strong>rancophilia<\/strong> and was nicknamed “The Gentleman<\/em>“. He started a collection<\/strong> which, at the time of his death, contained 83 works<\/strong>, 39 of which were European<\/strong> and 44 Russian<\/strong>. He died in 1903, at only 33 years old.<\/p>\n

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Henri Matisse, Triptyque marocain. La vue de la fen\u00eatre, Zorah sur la terrasse, et La Porte de la Casbah<\/em>, Tanger, 1912. \u00a9 Succession H. Matisse\/Pushkin Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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His second brother, Ivan<\/strong>, inherited the family empire. Traveling twice a year to Paris<\/strong>, the youngest Morozov<\/strong> accumulated an impressive collection<\/strong> of 240 French<\/strong> and 430 Russian works<\/strong>. The state nationalized his collection<\/strong> following the Russian Revolution<\/strong> which led, in February 1917, to the spontaneous overthrow of the Tsarist regime in Russia<\/strong> and the rise to power of the Bolsheviks in October 1917 with the establishment of Lenin<\/strong>‘s regime.<\/p>\n

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In December 1918, Ivan Morozov<\/strong>‘s home became a national museum<\/strong>, the first of Western art in Russia<\/strong>, but the collector<\/strong> accepted the position of vice-director in order to keep an eye on his works. But in 1919, Ivan Morozov<\/strong> went into exile in Finland with his family and died two years later in the Czech Republic at the age of 49.<\/p>\n

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Pierre Bonnard, La M\u00e9diterran\u00e9ee<\/em>, Triptyque, \u00e9tude \u00e0 Saint-Tropez, 1911. \u00a9 Hermitage Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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With the arrival of Joseph Stalin<\/strong> at the head of the USSR<\/strong>, the museum closed its doors in 1948 because of “formalism”. The works were then dispatched to the reserves of the Hermitage<\/strong> and the Pushkin Museum<\/strong>, and the Morozovs<\/strong>‘ legacy gradually disappeared from Soviet<\/strong> culture.<\/p>\n

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Pablo Picasso, Les deux saltimbanques (Arlequin et sa compagne), 1901. \u00a9 Pushkin Museum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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It was the famous painter<\/strong> Pablo Picasso<\/strong>, who was part of the Morozov brothers<\/strong>‘ collection, who resuscitated this crowd of artworks after Stalin<\/strong>‘s death. For the first time since the death of the two brothers, this collection<\/strong> is reunited at the Fondation Louis Vuitton<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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To make this exhibition happen, Bernard Arnault<\/strong>, director of LVMH<\/strong>, went directly to the Kremlin<\/strong> to make his request to Vladimir Putin<\/strong>. The current Russian president agreed, on the condition that the works be restored and reframed at the expense of the Louis Vuitton Foundation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9 Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Postponed three times due to the health crisis, the exhibition<\/strong> will have required five years of work, an itinerary kept absolutely confidential to avoid any attempt to steal these treasures of modern art. Inaugurated by Emmanuel Macron<\/strong> and Bernard Arnault<\/strong>, Vladimir Putin<\/strong> declined the invitation, explaining that he is “case contact” of a person who contracted Covid-19.<\/p>\n

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