Blouin, 52, a Canadian based in London, built a publishing conglomerate of classified-ad publications with her second husband, John MacBain, in Canada. It was sold in 1997, netting the pair about £280m. They divorced in 2001 and she went on to carve out a dominant presence in the world of art publishing and art websites via the Louise Blouin Media group. Business is growing rapidly, particularly in China, with the artinfo.cn website, which has ties with Yahoo China, and the group’s 90 titles include art bible Art+Auction, Modern Painters, Culture+Travel and catalogues for institutions such as the Louvre. In 2009, the Louise Blouin Foundation, with an advisory board that today includes sculptor Antony Gormley and Israeli president Shimon Peres, organised Art+Hope, a project in collaboration with artist Ross Bleckner and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, to provide art-based therapy to former child soldiers in Uganda. Blouin sold her London home in Holland Park just before the credit crunch for near the £28m asking price, having bought it for £11.5m, and has downsized to a £6m apartment beside the Thames. She has homes in New York, Paris and Switzerland, commercial property and a valuable art collection.