The soon-to-be-departed French president, François Hollande, has been handing out gongs to arts and culture figures as part of the French establishment’s annual prize-giving pageant. Serge Lasvignes, the president of the Centre Pompidou was made a commander of the Légion d’honneur, but France’s highest civilian distinction, the Dignity of the Great Cross (Grand-Croix), was awarded to the French luxury goods tycoon, François Pinault, who also owns Christie’s. Pinault runs two galleries in Venice—the Palazzo Grassi and the Punta della Dogana—but will return to the French fold next year with plans to open a new gallery at the Bourse du Commerce (commodity stock exchange) in Paris. The legion of honour is, incidentally, divided into five rankings: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand Officier (Grand Officer) and Grand-Croix (Grand Cross).
