As part of a collaboration with the iconic Parisian museum the Louvre, will.i.am (once upon a time in Black Eyed Peas) has released a music video for his 2013 single called “Smile Mona Lisa”, featuring former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger.
You can like that kind of music or not. And that kind of lyrics, because will.i.am sings: “Let me tell you about my girlfriend—my girlfriend Mona Lisa,”. He also explains to the listener that his girlfriend wants to be a fashionista, a model, and “rock the runways in Milano.” He’s jealous, he says, and wants to trust her, but all the other guys are looking at her—those other guys show up in the guise of other paintings, eyeing Mona Lisa.
But if you look at the video, it gives you a tour of art history, appearing in masterpieces like Johannes Vermeer’s The Astronomer, a Rembrandt self-portrait, and Jacques-Louis David’s Bonaparte Crossing the Alps.
“The whole idea of a museum is a collection of inspiration,” says the musician in a video about the Louvre’s vast holdings. “If you inspire me to do something, you would be my muse. If you made me laugh, you would be a-muse-ing. If I spread an inspiration, and it became an epidemic, it would be music.”
So, how many paintings from the Louvre shown on the video can you name? Leave the titles in the comments below! 🙂
