A music video by pop megastar Lady Gaga filmed at the Louvre in early September has been online since Wednesday, to coincide with the film’s release. Joker in which she plays and the museum’s back-to-school exhibition on “figures of the madman”.
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In this original video creation on the Instagram and TikTok accounts of the Louvre and the artist, we see the American, wearing a short red bob wig, black tights and sneakers, wandering through the rooms of the largest museum in the world while performing a song composed for the occasion.
The artist, who had already left his mark on Paris with his performance at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games this summer and is released on Friday Harlequinan album linked to his next film, moves at night from a terrace to end up facing the Mona Lisa.
After looking intently at the Mona Lisa, she draws a smile with lipstick on a pane of glass that appears to be the painting’s but is “a special device ensuring the integrity of the work.” The star then turns to face the camera, revealing a black-rimmed eye with a tear running through it.
Asked about this gesture, which evokes acts of vandalism that have occurred in recent months on paintings, including the Mona Lisa, in several establishments, the museum emphasizes that this scene is “purely fictitious”, conceived as “a tribute” to the character of the Joker and to Leonardo da Vinci.
“The Louvre has partnered with Warner Bros Pictures, which is producing the video, in collaboration with the star,” the museum told AFP.
It celebrates both the launch of its season with an exhibition devoted to the “figures of the fool” (from October 16 to February 3, 2025), including that of the Joker, which abound in painting from the 13th to the 16th century, and the release of Joker: Madness for Two with Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga (the first week of October worldwide, the 2nd in France).
This is not the Louvre’s first attempt with music stars.
In 2016, Will.i.am was the first to animate his paintings using special effects for a title called Mona Lisa smile.
In 2018, the couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z filmed a music video there, Apeshitincluding in particular “The Raft of the Medusa”, which intended to defend the equality of cultures and the place of blacks in the history of art.
The museum recently created a buzz by broadcasting images of a private visit by Celine Dion, before her participation in the opening of the Olympic Games.
