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Inside the New Valmont Art Foundation in Venice

The Fondation Valmont’s permanent space will debut during the Venice Biennale with an exhibition inspired by Hansel and Gretel

By Lucy Rees
Ornate room with elaborate moldings, empty picture frames, detailed mosaics on the floor, and intricate painted designs on walls.
Interior of Palazzo Bonvicini, which will house the exhibition “Hansel & Gretel—White Traces in Search of Your Self” from May 11 to November 24. Photo: Courtesy of the Valmont Group

Beauty is more than skin-deep for Didier Guillon. The head of the Fondation Valmont, the art pillar of the luxury scientific skincare and fragrance brand Guillon, is known for his fantastical imagination and passion for artistic concepts. He has masterminded a multitude of dynamic exhibitions, including one in New York last fall that traced the journey of a Cubist-looking gorilla and others at the previous two Venice Biennales.

Now he has founded a permanent art space for the foundation in Venice: a restored 16th-century, Renaissance-style palazzo—complete with gleaming original frescoes and striking terrazzo floors—that was once home to the noble Bonvicini family. The inaugural show, titled “‘Hansel & Gretel—White Traces in Search of Your Self,” kicks off on May 11 during the Venice Biennale and finds inspiration in the legend of Hansel and Gretel. While many fashion and beauty brands associate themselves with the arts, Valmont’s approach stands out. Art for Guillon and his team is not an add-on but considered the umbrella over the entire Valmont Group, which includes the four brands: Valmont, l’Elixir des Glaciers, Il Profvmo, and Storie Veneziane. “It’s all my creation. It’s also the chance for me to shift focus from the business side of things only,” Guillon told Galerie in a previous interview. “I try to share emotions and beauty with visitors and clients. It’s not about selling products.”

Man in leather jacket and green scarf holding a square object up to his eye against an ornate white background.
Didier Guillon, head of the Fondation Valmont. Courtesy of the Valmont Group

Recommended: For the Inaugural Frieze Sculpture, a Thoughtful Show Transforms Rockefeller Center

Ornate architectural view of aligned doorways in a historical building, showcasing elegant moldings and marbled floors.
Detail of a doorway in Palazzo Bonvicini. Courtesy of the Valmont Group

Ornate room with elaborate moldings, empty picture frames, detailed mosaics on the floor, and intricate painted designs on walls.
Interior of the Palazzo Bonvicini. Courtesy of the Valmont Group

Art installation with white plaster faces mounted on tall pillars in a gallery with ornate walls and wooden ceiling beams.
An installation view of “Hansel & Gretel—White Traces in Search of Your Self.” Courtesy of Valmont

Art gallery exhibit with photographs and documents projected onto white cubes in a minimalist room.
An installation view of “Hansel & Gretel—White Traces in Search of Your Self.” Courtesy of Valmont

A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2019 Summer issue in the section The Artful Life. Subscribe to the magazine.