Isabelle Huppert’s top tips for the Biennale as Louis Vuitton kicks off the Venice art fair

On the opening night of the Venice Biennale, Louis Vuitton hosted a dinner to celebrate the reopening of the late Gothic Ca’ d’Oro palace. The fashion house contributed to the restoration of the museum in collaboration with the Venetian Heritage Foundation and the architect Peter Marino, who could not help but shed a tear of joy during his welcome speech. Isabelle Huppert, whose ties to Louis Vuitton are as strong as her history with Venice, looked as dazzling as her lavish surroundings in a courtly leather look from Nicolas Ghesquière’s Spring/Summer 2022 collection. “It goes back to when I was 15. My sister and I took the train at Christmas. It was so powerful,” she said of her first experience of the city. “I made a film in Venice: The wings of the dove – Henry James – and of course my main relationship is with the film festival. I got the Best Actress award twice,” she says, smiling cheekily.

Huppert knows his craft and had already spent the day visiting the pavilions of the Giardini delle Biennale and the coinciding exhibitions around Venice. “The installation by Katharina Grosse is truly magnificent,” she said, referring to the German artist Apollo, Apollo show at Espace Louis Vuitton Venezia. “It’s the idea of ​​light in Venice. It covers a whole wall and there is light behind the fabric, so when you walk along the light, the light moves. It’s beautiful.” Another of Huppert’s highlights was that of Anselm Kiefer Questi scritti, quando voirrno bruciati, daranno finally un po’ di luce (“These writings, once burned, will finally shed some light”) at the Doge’s Palace. “Oh my god, have you been there?” It’s just amazing! But it must be amazing because it covers paintings by Tintoretto,” she said of the original works that adorn the walls of the palace’s main hall. “It has to be at that level, and it is.”