The show begins in the basement

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“The blockbuster blockbuster,” as I awkwardly dubbed the Shchukin show when I reviewed it in 2016, has attracted over 1.2 million visitors, more than any Paris exhibition since the arrival of the King Tut’s horde in 1967. It is not known whether he will be in the lead. this record, but in all other respects Morozov’s presentation is the equal of the Shchukin showcase and perhaps would have been even more difficult to achieve.

Like its predecessor, this one was curated with cool precision by Anne Baldassari, the former director of the Picasso Museum in Paris, and comes with a back-breaking catalog – indeed, both are almost the same size, for avoid the troubles of the descendants.

Like its predecessor, it required a colossal diplomatic effort, with the assurance that French law would protect Russian museums against any claims from the descendants of the Morozovs, and personal approval for loans from President Vladimir V. Putin.

Like its predecessor, it had a colossal budget, again undisclosed. Insurance alone would run into the millions. Reframing, new glass: another major cost center. The Vuitton Foundation also funded an ephemeral conservation studio phone number library in Russia to restore many works here, like a series of decorations (or murals) by Maurice Denis hanging in Ivan Morozov’s music room. Complain if you want a lot of money in the art world, but sometimes it’s not that bad to have the third richest person on Earth to pay your bills.

with nearly two dozen photos of the Morozov family, including several fascinating portraits of Russian painter Valentin Serov. His full-length portrait of Mikhail shows him in a morning robe, round and confident. Mikhail had a strong taste for the Parisian cabaret and, above all, its showgirls. (He would die young, at 33.)

Ivan, whose best portrait of Serov would appear later, with the Matisses, was more pragmatic and Muscovite, but no less experimental in his artistic tastes. They were old believers and relatively new money: their great-grandfather was a serf who had bought his freedom with his wife’s dowry of five rubles.