The Musée du Louvre has teamed up with Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh for a special collaboration in honor of the much anticipated “Leonardo da Vinci” exhibition, on display at the Louvre until February 24, 2020. To mark the occasion the ready-to-wear brand has realized a capsule of clothing items celebrating the life and works of the visionary artist, on the 500th anniversary of his death in France.
“I was fascinated with Da Vinci early on – I was in my senior year at Wisconsin, taking an art class. I was super interested not only by his artworks but also by the influence he had in many disciplines besides art: science, engineering, architecture… To me, he symbolizes everything the Renaissance was,” said Virgil Abloh, founder and artistic director of Off-White.
Typical Off-White markings, including logo placement and diamond arrows, are intertwined with the storied paintings of one of the world’s pioneering artists on an offering of t-shirts and hoodies. Among the featured works within the capsule are Da Vinci’s Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and an Angel, known as The Virgin of the Rocks, and Saint Anne, the Virgin Mary, and the Infant Jesus Playing with a Lamb, known as Saint A nne, woven with the master’s iconic drawings, including his anatomical sketches of the male form.
“I want to crash together these two worlds that are seemingly different: fashion and high art. It’s a crucial part of my overall body of work to prove that any place, no matter how exclusive it seems, is accessible to everyone. That you can be interested in expressing yourself through more than one practice and that creativity does not have to be tied to just one discipline. I think that Leonardo da Vinci was maybe the first artist to live by that principle, and I am trying to as well,” added Virgil Abloh.
“The Louvre has always been a place of life, of inspiration for the creators of each era. We are thrilled to see how the palace and museum collections have inspired Virgil Abloh. Our collaboration with Off-White and this multi-talented artist also gives us the opportunity to reach out to a new audience and encourage them to take interest in the Louvre,” said Adel Ziane, Director of External Relations, Musée du Louvre.
The capsule imagery was shot inside the Grande Galerie of the Louvre, capturing the immense history celebrated within France’s national museum, while truly connecting this modern collection with its core inspiration, as the Louvre holds the largest collection in the world of Da Vinci’s paintings, alongside 22 drawings.
The collection will be available in the Louvre gift shop (and online), via Off—White.com and Farfetch.com, and in shops including Off-White Paris, Off-White Milan, EM_PTY Gallery, and Browns. Prices will range from $355 to $640 USD.