Louis Vuitton Brings Seven Years of Artycapucines to Art Basel Paris

Louis Vuitton, an Associate Partner of Art Basel Paris, has unveiled an Artycapucines retrospective on the Balcon d’Honneur of the Grand Palais, celebrating seven years of artists reinterpreting its Capucines bag. Announced on October 20, 2026, the booth pairs each bag with works by the artist who made it — 14 artists in all, in the spirit of a group show — and opens to the public from October 23 to 25, 2026.

The booth also introduces the new Artycapucines collection dedicated to Keith Haring, displayed alongside a Louis Vuitton suitcase from the 1930s that Haring signed in the 1980s. The bags carry mini figures, dancers, a running heart, and chains of decorative symbols.

Since its 2019 debut, Artycapucines has invited artists to reconsider the Capucines through their own practices, working with Louis Vuitton’s artisans to turn its structure into a starting point for painterly gestures, assemblage, portraiture, and sculpture. The scenography leans into that idea of precious cargo: open crates, plinths, and trunk-like structures in brushed aluminum and cotton canvas, nodding to the House’s origins as a packer and trunk-maker.

The pairings read like a collector’s checklist. Alex Israel’s Cut-Out-Fin (Golden Hour) (2019) sits beside his finned 2023 bag; Urs Fischer’s Fruits (2026) answers the banana suspended from his design; Sam Falls’s Western Wind (2025) echoes his foliage; and Tschabalala Self’s Kitten (2026) mirrors her layered leather composition. Josh Smith’s Untitled (2019) and Henry Taylor’s A Young Master (2017) represent the 2020 edition, while Gregor Hildebrandt brings his cassette-tape work Ich möchte eiskunstlaufen (Lebanon Hanover) (2019).

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Louis Vuitton

Material is the story elsewhere: Kennedy Yanko’s metal-and-paint-skin Because of its blues (2025), Liza Lou’s glass-bead Lost Blue (2022) and Billie Zangewa’s embroidered-silk Soldier of Love (2020) each sit beside their bags. Three longstanding collaborators are honored too — Takashi Murakami’s Monogramouflage Skull (Black) (2008) with his 2025 “Capucines XXL Camo,” the late Yayoi Kusama’s Great Gigantic Pumpkin (2023) and the late Frank Gehry’s fish-shaped lamps, Untitled (Paris II) (2012).

“We have a dialogue between the art that inspired the bag and the bag that inspired the artist. It’s pretty amazing to see this relationship between this beautiful bag and the artists that collaborate with us,” Pietro Beccari, chairman and chief executive officer of Louis Vuitton, told WWD.

The retrospective also places Artycapucines in a lineage that runs back to the House’s first artist collaboration, with Pierre Legrain in 1920. For the first time, a selection of books from Louis Vuitton Editions will be available at the Art Basel Store — the most accessible souvenir at a booth full of museum-grade handbags.

The Artycapucines retrospective is open to the public at the Grand Palais, Avenue Winston Churchill, Paris, October 23–25, 2026, as part of Art Basel Paris.

For more of Haute Living’s Art Basel Paris coverage, see where to eat and what to see during Art Basel Paris 2026.