Independent Collectors

Venet Foundation

Sculpture park in Bernar Venet’s native Provence

Tony Smith, Maze, 1967, Black painted steel
Tony Smith, Maze, 1967, Black painted steel

Since 2014, the Venet Foundation’s exhibitions are mounted in a unique location in the village of Le Muy (Var) in France.

Each year this unique property, set across some seventeen acres of the French countryside, offers visitors an original tour of a “total work of art” designed by one of the most famous French artists in the world, Bernar Venet, in collaboration with his wife Diane. The foundation is also an “exceptional mental studio” for Bernar and a unique setting for the monumental works in the collection by major artists of the last 50 years.

Created in 2014, the Venet Foundation aims to preserve the site in Le Muy, conserve its collection, and ensure that Bernar Venet’s work will continue to be presented in an ideal setting. The foundation is the culmination of sixty years of artistic creation and Bernar Venet’s encounters with an impressive roster of other major artists, French and foreign, who have become his friends; it is also the outcome of more than thirty years of intense work transforming the property at Le Muy into a “total work of art.”

Discovered in the artist’s native Provence, the property in Le Muy is both the inspiration and a beautiful setting for the Venet Foundation’s exhibitions. The project of a lifetime, this exceptional seventeen-acre site where nature is omnipresent blends old, industrial, and contemporary architecture, a sculpture park, historical and recent pieces by the artist, and an extensive collection that is emblematic of minimal and conceptual art. Bernar Venet and his wife Diane wish to share their passion with a broader public, one that is able to sense the magic of this unique place and the incredible concentration of creative energies in works by Bernar and the fellow artists in his collection.

This summer, the factory and its extension will play host to two sculptures by Bernar Venet – thus far unknown to the public. The first piece is a Straight Line of 17 meters in length, leaning on a large cube. The second work, composed of 18 arcs, each one 5 meters in diameter, is presented in the form of a very unstable stack. It may be similar to the disordered Collapse sculptures, but its precarious verticality gives the impression that it is being shown here as the stage preceding the fall of the arcs. A step that will certainly be proposed in the very near future.

Venet Foundation is featured in the BMW ART GUIDE by INDEPENDENT COLLECTORS.

For more information visit Venet Foundation.

France (15)

NEWM ART COLLECTION

»We collect art that resonates with our experiences and challenges us in unexpected ways.«

Collection Lambert

The legendary French gallerist and collector, Yvon Lambert, is famed for his relentlessly forward-looking approach to visual art as well as uncanny acumen for understanding how art works and spaces interact with each other.

Peyrassol – Parc de sculptures

For the Franco-Belgian couple, Philippe Austruy and Valérie Bach, wine, food, and hospitality are equally as important as contemporary art

dslcollection

Paris-based couple Sylvain and Dominique Lévy focus on chinese contemporary art

Le Silo

Jean-Philippe and Françoise ­Billarant have been engaged with minimalism, ­conceptual art, and geometric abstraction

Diane Venet Collection

Una Meistere in conversation with Diane Venet about collecting jewellery made by artists.

Time & Architecture

Over the past three decades the Billarant’s have been deeply involved with collecting conceptual art, minimalism, and geometric abstraction.

A Tribute to Minimal and Conceptual Art

Venet strove to acquire museum quality artwork from the very beginning.

Sylvain & Dominique Lévy

Founded in 2005 by Paris-based couple Sylvain and Dominique Lévy, the DSL Collection is one of the rare Chinese contemporary art collections in France.

dslcollection x Photo London

The dslcollection is a supporter of Photo London, presenting its virtual museum with the fair, here with an interview and artworks on collecting photography.

Le Silo

For more than 35 years Parisian based collectors Françoise & Jean-Philippe Billarant have been intensely engaged with Minimalism and Conceptual art.

Marc & Josée Gensollen

To mark the opening of LOOP Barcelona we spoke with the Marseille based collector couple who have built an impressive collection of Minimal and Conceptual Art.

Jean François Keller

Long-time IC Collector Jean François Keller is someone that needs to have a personal connection with artworks he buys.

Fondation Francès

Created in 2009, the Fondation Francès welcomes art lovers and curious minds, sharing its passion for contemporary art.