Isabelle Huppert’s Top Tips For The Biennale As Louis Vuitton Kicks Off The Venice Art Fair

On the opening night of the Biennale in Venice, Louis Vuitton hosted a dinner to celebrate the reopening of the late-Gothic Palazzo Ca’ d’Oro. The fashion house has contributed to the museum’s restoration in collaboration with the Venetian Heritage Foundation and the architect Peter Marino, who couldn’t help but shed a tear of joy during his welcome speech. Looking as dazzling as her palatial surroundings in a courtly leather look from Nicolas Ghesquière’s spring/summer 2022 collection was Isabelle Huppert, whose ties to Louis Vuitton are as strong as her history with Venice. “It goes back since I was 15 years old. My sister and I took the train at Christmastime. It was so powerful,” she said of her first experience of the city. “I did a movie in Venice: The Wings of the Dove – Henry James – and of course my main relationship is with the movie festival. I got Best Actress twice,” she says, smiling cheekily.

Huppert knows her art and had already spent the day touring the pavilions of Giardini delle Biennale and the coinciding exhibitions around Venice. “The installation by Katharina Grosse is really beautiful,” she said, referring to the German artist’s Apollo, Apollo show in the Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia. “It’s the idea of light in Venice. It covers a whole wall, and there’s light behind the fabric so when you walk along the light shifts. It’s beautiful.” Another of Huppert’s highlights was Anselm Kiefer’s Questi scritti, quando verranno bruciati, daranno finalmente un po’ di luce (“These writings, when burned, will finally cast a little light”) at the Doge Palace. “Oh my god, did you go there? It’s just amazing! But it has to be amazing because it’s covering the Tintoretto paintings,” she said of the original works that grace the walls of the palace’s main hall. “It has to be at that level, and it is.”

“It’s very, very impressive,” Huppert said. “I’ve known Anselm’s works for years but this is really striking, because the space is striking so you have to fill it out. It’s about vitality and eternity and death.” The Biennale isn’t only an opportunity to showcase the works of contemporary artists from around the world, but a vehicle for brands like Louis Vuitton to pledge their support to Venetian culture and heritage through contributions to the restoration of buildings like Ca’ d’Oro, and invaluable historic artworks. Alongside the MUVE Foundation, which manages the protection of Venetian heritage, the fashion house is currently restoring a series of paintings by the French Post-Impressionist painter Émile Bernard, which will be shown at the Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia later this year before returning to their home in the Museo Correr in St Mark’s Square.

As part of the opening of the Biennale, the Golden Lion awards for best exhibitions were presented this weekend. The British artist Sonia Boyce won Best National Participation for her work “Feeling Her Way”, while the American artist Simone Leigh won Best International Exhibition. “The American pavilion was very powerful,” Huppert said of Leigh’s work. “And the French pavilion [by the Franco-Algerian artist Zineb Sedira] was very interesting. It’s about a love of cinema: quotes about films from Ettore Scola to Visconti.” But it was the Belgian pavilion that got Huppert’s douze points. “It was really wonderful. It’s all about children from different countries and communities: a series of videos of children playing. It’s a promise for life; all these kids in Africa, Afghanistan and Mexico,” the actress said, concluding her highlights from her first day at the Biennale.