The French business tycoon François Pinault's collection of modern and contemporary art has found a home, after a six-year saga that spans two countries France and Italy and offers a cautionary tale of what can sometimes happen when private meets public. In 2000, Pinault announced that his collection of over 2,000 works would be housed in a new building to be designed by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando on the lie Seguin, the site of an abandoned Renault factory just outside Paris. Five years later, Pinault scrapped the project and, instead, bought the 18th-century Palazzo Grassi in Venice to exhibit his collection. The trouble was time. The 69-year-old Pinault, head of the PPR (Pinaurt-Printemps-Redoute) retail empire, grew impatient with the bureaucratic hurdles that were delaying the start of construction. "Art is for eternity and should not be subject to the timing of projects meant to serve it," he said when announcing his withdrawal from the project. Former French Culture Minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon, now the director general of the Palazzo Grassi, put it more bluntly: "When a business executive launches a project, he doesn't want to wait 10 to 15 years." Things moved quickly once Pinault made his decision. Only a year after he bought the palace from Rat, which used it for its foundation's art exhibitions, the Palazzo Grassi will officially open its doors on April 30, giving the public its first glimpse of the collection Pinault has been amassing for over 30 years. The Palazzo Grassi will hold temporary exhibitions on contemporary art, modern art and the history of civilizations, The inaugural show, "Where Are We Going?" (until Oct. 1), will present over 200 works from the collection selected by a young American curator, Alison Gingeras, of New York's Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "For the international public, it will be a revelation of the great quality of Frangois Pinault's collection," says Aillagon, adding that collaborations with other institutions in and outside of Europe are planned. While French art lovers were dismayed by Pinault's desertion of Paris, Venice was delighted to welcome the French businessman. "Thanks to this collection," said Mayor Massimo Cacciari, "I am convinced that Venice is destined to become the most important center in Italy for the documentation and knowledge of contemporary art."