With masterpieces such as Mona Lisa and Winged Victory from Samothrake, the Louvre in Paris is possibly the world's most famous art museum and is visited by millions of art lovers each year. But in 2018, the museum broke all previous records with 10.2 million visitors.
The Louvre's management believes that its success can be explained by the popular exhibition of French artist Eugène Delacroix, but there's more to the story. The increasing public interest likely also depended on the visit of two of the world's biggest music stars.
Last year, Beyoncé and Jay-Z released an album together titled Everything is Love as The Carters. The album's first single Apeshit was supplemented with a now iconic music video recorded at the Louvre.
Today, the video has been viewed over 146 million times and is a strong contributing factor to the Louvre's success. Several of the museum's (and art history's) most famous and appreciated works are featured in the video, but in a completely new context. The presence of R&B and hip hop at the Louvre blurred the boundary between popular culture and fine art in an unprecedented and visionary way.
The Louvre's management has recognized the immense success of the video, and in July, they introduced a 90-minute guided tour called Jay-Z and Beyoncé at the Louvre. The tour includes 17 of the works of art that appear in Apeshit, including David's The Coronation of Napoleon (pictured above) and Madame Recamier, the Venus de Milo, the Great Sphinx of Tanis and Portrait of a Black Woman by Marie-Guillemine Benoist.
However, with the Louvre announcing that Salvator Mundi, the world's most expensive artwork, will be shown at the museum's da Vinci exhibit this fall, there is a good chance the 2018 record can be beaten again.
