Visiting the Louis Vuitton Foundation

La Fondation Louis-Vuitton (Louis Vuitton Foundation) is an art museum and cultural center sponsored by the Group LVMH and its subsidiaries.  The foundation is run as a legally separate, nonprofit venture, part of LVMH's promotion of arts and culture.  Opened in 2014, the building was designed by Frank Gehry and is located in Paris' Bois de Boulogne, bordering the community Neuilly-sur-Seine.

The museum is currently between exhibitions, but is open for visitors and we head over to see the building and a brief show of its architecture and construction.  We walk to the end of the Champs Élysées at the Arc de Triomphe and then follow Avenue de la Grand Armée to Porte Maillot where we enter the Bois de Boulogne forest and walk through it to the foundation.

Arc de Triomphe

Through the Bois de Boulogne

Approaching the Louis Vuitton Foundation

Views of the exterior

Entering the lobby

We view a small show of the architecture and construction of the building and then proceed to the top of the building and head outside to explore the architecture ourselves.

Architectural exploration

Models

Wandering through the outer structure

The views of Paris peeking through the structure are fabulous.

Glimpses of Paris

We descend to the lower levels and view the water features and pool at the base of the building.

Water features

It has been a real treat to explore the building and its history.  What a fabulous display area, even without an exhibition on display at the moment!

Montmarte

We walk from our hotel on Avenue des Champs Élysées to Sacré-Coeur Basilica in Montmartre, the historic hilltop village in Paris famous for its artistic heritage, winding cobblestone streets, and large collection of tourists, passing a few classic Paris sights on the way.  Sacré-Coeur is the highest point in Paris after the Eiffel Tower and offers incredible panoramic views of the city.

La Madeleine (church)

Gare Saint-Lazare (first railway station in Paris)

 Église de la Sainte-Trinité de Paris

Moulin Rouge

On the way up the hill to Montmartre

Montmartre was originally a Roman settlement and evolved into an independent rural community that was annexed into Paris in 1860.  During the Belle Époque period at the turn of the 20th century, Montmartre attracted struggling artists and writers such as Picasso, van Gogh, Matisse, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Dali, Modigliani, Renoir, Hemingway, and Sartre, who lived and worked here.  Sacré-Coeur Basilica, dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus, was constructed between 1876 and 1919 and  is located at the highest point of the hill.

Sacré-Coeur 

Views from Sacré-Coeur 

After admiring the views, we wander a few blocks into Place du Tertre, packed with restaurants and artists selling their works and painting portraits on demand.

Heading around the corner

Artists in Place du Tertre

We pick a spot for lunch in the square and watch the artists and tourists in the streets.

View from lunch

Walking back down the hill from Montmartre, we pass more great sights and pop into a few shops to view art, pottery, and food.

Heading back into the city

We return to to Avenue de Champs Élysées to plan our next wander in the city.