The Frick Collection in New York has announced a three-year partnership with Louis Vuitton that will see the fashion house sponsor a number of initiatives at the museum.
Louis Vuitton will be the lead sponsor of three of the Frick’s upcoming exhibitions: “Siena: The Art of Bronze, 1450–1500,” which will look at the Italian city as an epicenter for innovation in bronze during the Renaissance, opening this fall; “Painting with Fire: Susanne de Court and the Art of Enamel,” a survey of the 17th-century French enameler, opening in spring 2027; and a third exhibition that has not yet been announced but will focus on 19th-century paintings and open in late 2027.
This curatorial support will also extend to a two-year position that will be known as the Louis Vuitton Curatorial Research Associate. The recipient of this position will be Yifu Liu, who is currently a curatorial fellow at the Frick, where he is researching “cultural exchange and the hybridization of artistic practices between Europe and China in the eighteenth century,” according to a release. In his new role, Liu will concentrate on the Frick’s Asian porcelain holdings as well as look at the art and fashion of the courts of Louis XV and Louis XVI of France and Qianlong Emperor of China.
Additionally, Louis Vuitton will provide the funds for a year’s worth of the Frick’s First Fridays programs, for which the museum is free admission from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of each month, expect for in January and September. Running June 2026–May 2027, the program will be branded as Louis Vuitton First Fridays.
“We are thrilled to engage with Louis Vuitton in such a meaningful and sustaining way,” Frick director Axel Rüger said in a statement. “The House’s commitment to cultural experiences of the highest quality aligns well with our own, and this sponsorship over the next three years will provide critical funding for three integral areas of the museum’s mission: exhibitions, public programming, and art historical research. We are grateful for this unique support from one of the world’s leading fashion houses, which will enable many of the Frick’s important future offerings in this new chapter following our renovation.”
The partnership will be launched via the presentation of Louis Vuitton’s Cruise 2027 collection show, by Nicolas Ghesquière, in the Frick’s first floor galleries on May 20. The museum will be closed for a few days next week in order to realize the show.
Louis Vuitton is not the first fashion house to stage its Cruise 2027 collection at a museum this season. On Thursday, Dior, now helmed by Jonathan Anderson, held its Cruise collection at the recently opened David Geffen Galleries of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
“Nicolas’s vision for the Cruise collections, consistently presented at extraordinary locations, enables us to create deeper connections between fashion, architecture, and culture,” Louis Vuitton CEO Pietro Beccari said in a statement. “This sponsorship at the Frick not only reinforces Louis Vuitton’s dedication to supporting the arts but also illustrates how such exceptional venues become integral to the Louis Vuitton story, enriching our narrative with each collection.”
