Anyone who studied art history in Uni has spent a good deal of time discussing Gustave Caillebotte’s The Floor Scrapers. It is one of the paintings included in Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea, opening today.

As a participant in the landmark retrospective exhibition that introduced Gustave Caillebotte to the American public in 1976–77, the Brooklyn Museum is proud to present Gustave Caillebotte: Impressionist Paintings from Paris to the Sea, the first major showing of the artist’s oeuvre in New York in over thirty years. In addition to the well-known Parisian cityscapes that have traditionally marked him as the “Urban Impressionist,” Caillebotte painted scenes of outdoor life away from the city on the coast of Normandy and in the villages of Yerres and Petit Gennevilliers, where he and his family maintained estates. The approximately forty paintings included in this focused thematic exhibition reveal Caillebotte’s extraordinary passion for subjects in which water plays a central role—as an enigmatic, magical element reflecting its surroundings, as an essential atmospheric ingredient, and as a scene for sporting activities. As a passionate rower and yachtsman, Caillebotte approached his motifs with the trained eyes and hand of an accomplished engineer and sportsman. The exhibition will also include drawings as well as models and sketches for the construction of Caillebotte’s sailboats.

The exhibition opens today and runs to July 5, 2009, at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

Museum product rarely gets fancier than this. Launched June 1 at the Brooklyn Museum, the new Takashi Murakami Louis Vuitton collaborative combines the monogram and camoflage. The Monogramouflage collection features a variety of bags, including the Keepall 55 above. Select LV stores will be carrying them beginning this weekend and stretching into the second week of July. (Via Nitrolicious). 

Tonight’s the big night in Brooklyn, NY. The Takashi Murakami exhibit opens its doors  at the Brooklyn Museum. Special guests can expect the usual festivities – big ole bash with Kayne West performing, the 550-square-foot Louis Vuitton boutique that accompanies Murakami’s show wherever it goes, and 300 Monogramouflage canvases up for purchase (6000-10000$US depending on if you’re one of the first 50 in line).

But what is most interesting for this show is that those Monogramouflage canvases and Vuitton handbags will also be sold on the streets right outside the museum – and they’re authentic! Giving a slap in the face to the usual street vendors of NYC, Vuitton is boldly taking their war against counterfeiters right onto their turf.

Yves Carcelle, chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton told WWD, “We think that by highlighting it in a happening way and not in a boring way, it will make everybody more aware.” (photo via NYT)

The Takashi Murakami exhibition is right now making its way from Los Angeles to New York and will as of April be exhibited at the Brooklyn Museum.

April 5–July 13, 2008

4th and 5th Floors

The most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of internationally acclaimed Japanese artist Takashi Murakami includes more than ninety works in various media that span the artist’s entire career, installed in more than 18,500 square feet of gallery space.

Apparently there will once again be a Louis Vuitton pop-up store also at the Brooklyn Museum, selling limited edition collaborative items of the French luxury brand and the Japanese artist.