In a new video produced by the singer and the French museum, Lady Gaga confronted the Mona Lisa at the Louvre and smiled like a lipstick.
In order to promote the upcoming exhibition "Figures of a Fool" at the Louvre, which opens next month, the American singer, who also appears in the upcoming Joker movie, adopted the guise of Harley Quinn and performed a little lipstick "vandalism" on Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece.
Wearing a red wig, Lady Gaga enters the Paris museum covertly at night and performs a song written especially for the music video, which she shared on her TikTok and Instagram accounts.
She looks directly at the Mona Lisa and then uses lipstick to create a clownish smile on the glass shield in front of her. A black mascara-smeared tear escapes the star's eye as she draws back.
When asked if it was wise to support such actions at a time when climate activists often destroy artwork in museums, the Louvre maintains that the movie is "purely fictional" and an homage to Leonardo, who was fascinated with smiles.
The museum maintains that the 3.8cm-thick impermeable barrier that shields the video canvas was positioned in front of an additional screen.
The lipstick grin is a reference to a pivotal moment in the movie The Joker where Harley Quinn pays a jail visit to his soulmate, the Joker.
The Hollywood film firm Warner Bros Pictures, which produced the movie and filmed the music video in the museum, was reportedly partnered with the Louvre.
The Louvre was once again the starry class playground.
Artist and producer Will.i.am gained notoriety in 2016 when he commandeered Napoleon's white chariot for the animated music video for the song "Mona Lisa Smile."
When Beyoncé and Jay-Z recorded their "Apeshit" video two years later, they cleverly referenced Jericho's famous paintings "Medusa's Raft," "Mona Lisa," and "Napoleon's Coronation" to discuss the role of blackness—or absence thereof—in classical art history.
The most popular museum in the world, the Louvre, made headlines recently when video of singer Celine Dion's private visit there before to her performance at the Olympic opening ceremony in July was released. | BGNES