some art on your shoulder...

How is your Art History?

If I'm honest, pre 1800, mine is pretty sketchy. Apart the very obvious works, I would be hard pressed to name much by the Old Masters. It seems I am not alone, last year for the first time the values of Contemporary Art excelled those of the Old Masters.

But things may be about to change if Jeff Koons and Louis Vuitton have their way. Never thought I would be typing those two names together!

They have been working together for over a year in total secrecy on a project called Masters. A collection of 51 pieces including bags, scarves, key chains and small leather goods, including wallets and laptop sleeves!

They have been inspired by Mr. Koons’s “Gazing Ball” series of paintings from 2015, which featured exacting reproductions of various masterworks (Manet’s “Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe,” Monet’s “Water Lilies,” Klimt’s “The Kiss”) with blue reflective spheres normally used as lawn ornaments affixed on top and refracting the viewer, the collection comprises five of the most famous paintings in history, including the “Mona Lisa,” Van Gogh’s “Wheat Field With Cypresses” and Rubens’s “The Tiger Hunt,” all of which have been reproduced in high-definition detail on some of Vuitton’s most classic leather bags.

In place of a gazing ball, each bag has been adorned with highly reflective gold or silver letters spelling the artist’s name on the outside. The bottom edge features Mr. Koons’s initials — or logo — in one corner and Vuitton’s logo on the other. The leather loop around the handle that normally secretes a lock or an identification tag has been recut to resemble the Koons balloon bunny.

Over £2000 to carry around a little history on your shoulder.

How are you feeling about that?

I can't make my mind up how I feel about it to be honest...

Queen Marie