Happy birthday Beyoncé! The recording artist has had her hand in the art world for years, causing fan meltdowns at various museums and art fairs with husband Jay-Z, while quietly building a considerable collection the reportedly includes Jean-Michel Basquiat and Richard Prince. She has also made reference to contemporary works in her own oeuvre such as the infamous car smashing scene in Hold Up, which was inspired by Pipilotti Rist. However, her most influential “art moment” to date is undoubtedly the jaw-dropping video for Apeshit, released last summer as part of The Carter’s album Everything Is Love. Shot at the Louvre, it includes scenes with Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, Jacques-Louis David’s Coronation of Napoleon and Rosso Fiorentino’s Pietà, causing plenty of us to frantically bone up on our art history. The video was so influential that it was cited as the main contributor for the museum’s record-breaking visitor numbers in 2018.
