Louis Vuitton, Associate Partner of Art Basel Paris, unveils its Artycapucines retrospective for the 2026 edition
This year, Louis Vuitton celebrates seven years of artistic interpretations of the Capucines in a retrospective on the Balcon d’Honneur of the Grand Palais. Presented alongside works by their creators, the bags reveal the breadth of the Artycapucines project: an ongoing dialogue between distinct artistic expressions and the House’s leather goods savoir-faire. The booth also introduces the new Artycapucines collection dedicated to the work of Keith Haring. In total, 14 artists have been brought together in the spirit of a group show.
The contemporary scenography draws on the visuals of archival storage and fine-art transport, with open crates, plinths and trunk-like structures in brushed aluminium and cotton canvas framing the encounter between artworks and bags. With pale carpeting in harmony with the building’s emblematic green steel, this allusion to the packing, protection and movement of precious objects also connects with Louis Vuitton’s origins as a packer and trunk-maker.
Since the debut of Artycapucines in 2019, artists have been invited to reconsider this iconic style through their own practices. In collaboration with Louis Vuitton’s artisans, its recognisable structure becomes a starting point for experimentation, accommodating painterly gestures, assemblage, portraiture and sculptural interventions.
Beginning with a colourful splash, Alex Israel’s Cut-Out-Fin (Golden Hour) (2019), an acrylic work on a laser-cut and collaged support, accompanies his vibrant bag with its own fin shapes from 2023. Urs Fischer’s Fruits (2026) finds a playful correspondence in the banana suspended from his Artycapucines. The botanical impressions of Sam Falls’s Western Wind (2025) echo the foliage of his design, while Tschabalala Self’s Kitten (2026), combining painted and textile elements, offers a counterpart to her layered composition on leather.
Painting takes further forms in the contributions of Josh Smith and Henry Taylor, both participants in the 2020 edition. Smith’s Untitled (2019) brings the lettering and saturated colour of his name paintings into dimensional conversation with the bag. Taylor’s A Young Master (2017) accompanies a bag that carries his approach to portraiture into a different medium. Nearby, Gregor Hildebrandt’s cassette-tape work Ich möchte eiskunstlaufen (Lebanon Hanover) (2019) reveals the contrasting surfaces and graphic rhythms that also inform his 2021 interpretation.
Other pairings foreground the transposing of material and volume. Kennedy Yanko’s Because of its blues (2025), made from metal and paint skin, shares the sculptural sensibility of her 2022 Artycapucines with its scrunched and painted form. Liza Lou’s Lost Blue (2022), composed of painted glass beads, introduces an intricate surface built through repetition and handwork, which is mirrored in her 2023 bag. Billie Zangewa’s embroidered-silk Soldier of Love (2020) brings her intimate figurative world into the presentation, alongside her contribution, also in embroidered silk.
Three artists who remain longstanding collaborators are also honoured. Takashi Murakami’s Monogramouflage Skull (Black) (2008), accompanies his camouflage interpretation from the 2025 Artycapucines “Capucines XXL Camo”, which was inspired by his artwork TIME (2009). Great Gigantic Pumpkin (2023) by the late Yayoi Kusama will draw attention within the space, as will a second work, Every Day I Pray for Love (2023). The late Frank Gehry’s fish-shaped lamps, Untitled (Paris II) (2012), illuminate the relationship between his animated forms and his leather goods design for Louis Vuitton.
The Artycapucines collection dedicated to Keith Haring will be on display alongside a Louis Vuitton suitcase from the 1930s to which he added his signature in the 1980s. Presented within the retrospective, the range of bags, including surfaces covered in mini figures, dancers, a running heart and chains of decorative symbols, opens a further chapter in a project shaped by the individuality of each contribution.
Louis Vuitton’s engagement with artists dates back more than a century, beginning with the first collaboration with Pierre Legrain in 1920, and extending through Gaston-Louis Vuitton’s commissions for advertisements, product catalogues, and objects linked to beauty and travel. Artycapucines continues this history through a sustained encounter between artistic imagination and savoir-faire. At this year’s Art Basel Paris, the retrospective offers a collective view of that inspiring process, while ultimately reaffirming Louis Vuitton’s position as a House of Culture.
The presentation will be open to the public at the Grand Palais from October 23ʳᵈ-25ᵗʰ, 2026 as part of Art Basel Paris.
For the first time, a selection of books from Louis Vuitton Editions will be available at the Art Basel Store.
Courtesy of Louis Vuitton
