海角大神

It鈥檚 6:15 a.m., and Paris is still dark. Traversing the Bois de Boulogne, a park on the western edge of the city, there is not a soul.

Yet at the Foundation Luis Vuitton in the center of the parkland, it could be the middle of the day, save for the fact that the sun still hasn鈥檛 risen. By 6:45 a.m., people in line for the blowout exhibit 鈥淚cons of Modern Art: The Shchukin Collection鈥� are tense. 鈥淚f these people all reserved for 7 a.m., we are never going to get in,鈥� says one man nervously to his friends standing in the 鈥渘o reservation鈥� queue.

The collection on display here of Russian industrialist Sergei Shchukin, considered one of the finest in the world, has turned into the most popular exhibit in 50 years in Paris. More than a million people have streamed through the doors of the private gallery, and to deal with the demand, the foundation opened at 7 a.m. in its final week.

The popularity of 鈥淚cons of Modern Art" clearly owes to the collection itself. Mr. Shchukin amassed more than 250 masterpieces by Matisse, Gaugin, Picasso, and Monet, 130 of them on display here. This is the first time the collection has been reunited since it was broken up by Stalin and the first time it has left Russia together 鈥� a testament to art鈥檚 capacity to transcend revolution, war, banishment, and the politics of the day.

鈥淲hen a friend told me she was going to see the 鈥楽hchukin鈥� exhibit, I asked myself, who is this person?鈥� I did some research about this collection, I said, 鈥極h la la la la.鈥� I thought to myself, 鈥業 must see this,鈥欌�� says Jos茅e Climent, who is retired and traveled from Montpellier to see the show.

鈥淓veryone is talking about Shchukin, Shchukin,鈥� says Nicolas Mengaud, who set an alarm at 5:20 a.m. and took a vacation day to be here, standing first in the line for his 7:30 a.m. slot. 鈥淚鈥檇 never heard of him.鈥�

Mr. Shchukin was a Russian industrialist who, on his business trips to Paris at the end of the 19th century, began bringing home the Impressionist, post-Impressionist, and modern masters of the day, filling the walls of his home in Moscow. Derided at home, he took little notice. "If a painting gives you a psychological shock, you should buy it,鈥� he once said.

His buying spree was short-lived. A year after the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, he went into exile a year, and the collection was nationalized. It was evacuated to Siberia after the Germans attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. After the war, Stalin ordered the its dissolution, declaring the works 鈥渂ourgeois art.鈥�

While much of the intrigue around the Shchukin collection focuses on its nationalization after the Bolshevik Revolution, which marks its centenary this year, his collection also highlights an era that led up to the much-overshadowed February Revolution of the same year. Correspondent Fred Weir writes about that short-lived period in 1917, when a mix of pro-Western liberals and democrats held power, in next week鈥檚 print edition of 海角大神.

Preceding the February Revolution was a period of frenzied art-purchasing by Shchukin, who bought his entire collection in less than two decades, and other members of the merchant class who were called the 鈥淩ussian Rockefellers and Carnegies and Fricks鈥� in a of 鈥淭he Merchant Patrons of Modern Art In Pre-Revolutionary Russia鈥� by Beverly Whitney Kean.

"There was a strange, artificial, hothouse atmosphere in Russia at the turn of the century, a sense of forced growth and impending metamorphosis," biographer Whitney Kean .

Shchukin鈥檚 collection was broken up by the state in 1948 and split between the Hermitage and Pushkin museums in Russia. Its reunion 鈥� a diplomatic feat, and victory over its troubled history 鈥� amounts to nothing short of a 鈥渕iracle,鈥� Anne Baldassari, curator of the exhibit, told CNBC in an on-air interview.

It opened last fall during a chapter of tension between the West and Russia 鈥� over the annexation of Ukraine, Russia鈥檚 military involvement in Syria, and accusations of hacking and meddling in Western elections from the US to France. Russian President Vladimir Putin never made it to the exhibit. He canceled a trip to France聽that would have coincided with the opening, in response to French President Fran莽ois Hollande鈥檚 comments that Russian intervention in Aleppo was a 鈥渨ar crime.鈥�

But few others have stayed away. According to , it鈥檚 the most visited exhibit since 鈥淭outankhamon鈥� at the Petite Palais in 1967, which drew 1.2 million visitors in just over five months.

The Foundation Louis Vuitton took steps to respond, extending the show by two weeks and keeping its doors open until 11 p.m. On Saturday, the night before it closes, doors will be open until 1 a.m.

But it is the early risers on Friday who say they have experienced something enthralling. Minutes after opening, the 14 galleries are still nearly empty. Visitors who have finally gotten through the queues and into the exhibit can take in Matisse's "Red Room" or Cezanne鈥檚 "Mardi Gras" practically alone.

Ms. Climent, the retiree, calls Matisse her 鈥渉eart-stopper.鈥� But in the Gauguin room, she was able to stand by herself for several minutes in front of the artist's 鈥淎ha Oe Feii?鈥� ("Are you jealous?")

As she recounts her visit, it鈥檚 nearing 8:30 a.m. The rooms are starting to fill. By 9 a.m., visitors have to queue up to see practically every work of art on display.

But Climent has already experienced the entire exhibition. 鈥淭o walk through here, and breath, in this magical place,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t has been exceptional.鈥�