IHES Evening at the Fondation Louis Vuitton

On Wednesday, June 24, 2026, IHES welcomed its friends, partners, and benefactors for a special evening at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris.

Following opening remarks by Jean-Paul Claverie, Advisor to the Chairman and CEO of LVMH, guests had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Stanislas Dehaene, Professor at the Collège de France, coordinator of the Acting for Educationinitiative, and Chair of the Scientific Council on Education. His talk, titled The Origins of Mathematics: A Neuroscience Perspective, explored the cognitive foundations of mathematical thinking. Trained as a mathematician and internationally recognized as a cognitive psychologist and neuroscientist, Dehaene’s research focuses on the neural basis of the brain’s most fundamental cognitive functions, including reading, arithmetic, reasoning, and conscious awareness. In his latest book, The Lascaux Rectangle, published by Éditions Odile Jacob, he investigates the neuroscientific origins of human geometric representations. According to Dehaene, every geometric figure reflects a fundamental feature of human cognition: our ability to form symbolic representations and, from them, construct an infinitely expanding hierarchy of concepts.

The lecture was followed by remarks from Marwan Lahoud, Chairman of the IHES Board of Directors, who emphasized the vital role that philanthropy plays in supporting the Institute’s mission and activities.

Guided by the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s cultural mediators, guests then enjoyed a private visit to the exhibition Calder: Dreaming in Balance. This major retrospective brings together nearly 300 works by Alexander Calder and celebrates both the centenary of the artist’s arrival in France and the fiftieth anniversary of his passing. From the iconic mobiles and stabiles to the Calder Circus and monumental sculptures, the exhibition provided a striking complement to Stanislas Dehaene’s lecture. After exploring the neural mechanisms that enable humans to perceive geometry, space, and motion, guests experienced those same geometric intuitions transformed into art through Calder’s work, where balance, movement, and abstraction engage directly with the very foundations of human cognition.

The evening concluded with a cocktail reception and dinner, giving guests the opportunity to continue the conversations sparked by the lecture and the exhibition tour.

IHES extends its warmest thanks to Jean-Paul Claverie and LVMH for their generous hospitality, to Stanislas Dehaene for his inspiring lecture, and to all of its friends, partners, and benefactors for their steadfast support of science.