Fashion king's art show shocks Italy, irks France

VENICE, Italy, Apr 28 (Reuters) French billionaire Francois Pinault's contemporary art collection goes on show at Venice's Palazzo Grassi this weekend, a major snub to art lovers in Paris which was originally meant to host the works.

Pinault, owner of auction house Christie's and the Gucci fashion group, had pledged to build a museum for his collection on the Ile Seguin in the Seine.

But to the fury of the French, he pulled out in impatience at the slow pace of bureaucratic approval for his project.

Italians, used to the traditional paintings displayed in the 18-century palace, appeared puzzled by the pickled cows and pictures of genitals at a preview showing yesterday.

''Everyone is looking a bit perplexed,'' said one visitor to the show, which will be open to the public from April 30.

A booking website for the show contained a warning that some of the works could offend visitors, and that adults with children should be particularly alert.

Parisien art-lovers would have perhaps been unfazed by the graphic display, but they were deeply hurt by Pinault's decision to abandon the planned 150-million-euro museum on the Seguin island in the Seine, designed by architect Tadao Ando.

Jerome Sans, co-director of the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, told the Art Newspaper last year it was ''like someone saying, 'Yes, I'll marry you,''' and then leaving the bride at the altar.

Pinault said at the time he had wanted the rest of the island to be developed along with the museum space, but that officials had been frustratingly slow in approving the plans.

The entrepreneur's collection includes Miro and Picasso -- who were in fact more shocking in their days than the living artists in Pinault's portfolio are today.

They include Jeff Koons, who married a porn star and made a sculpture of Michael Jackson and his pet monkey, and Damien Hirst, who preserved a cow in formaldehyde.

Pinault bought Palazzo Grassi in 2006 from the city of Venice, which in turn had acquired it from carmaker Fiat. He plans to build an extension that would double the building's exhitibion space.

REUTERS SY PM1011