Jeff Koons X Louis Vuitton: Art Masterpieces Speedy, Keepall, Neverfull Handbags

For their new iconic collection, Louis Vuitton is signing off on their first exclusive collaboration. By playing with the rules of copying, they push us to question our appreciation of things that are outside our time. By purely using paintings from the greatest painters in history, the brand is bringing these pieces to new heights. The idea was born from the Jeff Koons series “Gazing Ball”, exhibited at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. Louis Vuitton’s leathergoods collection was born by transposing five masterworks traced on reproductions of Jeff Koons’ “Gazing Ball” series on the brand’s own iconic bags. From the Keepall to the Speedy with sublime backpacks in between, the greatest works in the history of humanity can now be found on Louis Vuitton’s legendary leathers.

Through this collaboration, great works of art become ready-to-wear and are able to ditch the museums. After all, “art’s patrons of today – as Koons confirms in an interview accompanying the launch – like to reflect on art in order to celebrate all of humanity”. For example, Fragonard’s “La Gimblette” espouses the curves of a Keepall; a fantastic painting by Van Gogh “Wheat Field with Cypresses” then awakens all the aesthetic strength of Louis Vuitton’s bags with its colors and reverie. The encounter of two masters, one in leather and style, the second in modernity, could only yield these pieces that are already popular, like the Neverfull bag.

But Jeff Koons is also an artist, and there’s no better way for him to pursue his exploration of emotions than by composing artworks through the idea of emotionally connecting Human and Sacred in one piece. Put into a new context, Rubens’ “The Tiger Hunt” brings the Louis Vuitton bag all the artistic dimension of objects that are in fact that. The best is perhaps seeing them as if through a Koons Gazing Ball. The blue sphere is just like the universe, “a symbol of generosity that reflects everything in 360° and tells you where you are in space and time. I didn’t use it on the bags because the sparkling Monogram and the bright letters in the painters’ names are enough to establish this connection with the outside word,” the artist explains. As for connections, these works by Jeff Koons and Louis Vuitton were introduced during an exclusive dinner held in the Mona Lisa room of the Louvre. Among the guests in attendance were the brand’s muses, from the sublime Catherine Deneuve to Michelle Williams, Cate Blanchett, and Nicolas Ghesquière. The whole collection will be available in Louis Vuitton stores starting April 28th.