Watching this weekend’s “APESHIT” music video, an obvious question arose: how did Beyoncé and Jay-Z, aka The Carters, manage to get private access to the Louvre and do their thing in front of whatever masterpiece they fancied, given the usual gaggle of tourists that typically surround these artworks?
As it turns out, Bey and Jay have a good relationship with the Louvre – which shouldn’t be a huge surprise to anyone who remembers their 2014 trip to the gallery, where they took an iconic photo in front of the “Mona Lisa”. As a spokesperson for the museum told Vulture, the couple have visited the Louvre four times over the past 10 years. During their last visit – which was in May this year, just last month – they explained their idea for filming a video there. Things evidently came together fast after that.
“The deadlines were very tight but the Louvre was quickly convinced because the synopsis showed a real attachment to the museum and its beloved artworks,” the spokesperson said.
It probably also helped that they’re incredibly famous – and incredibly wealthy. As the New York Times previously reported, private appointments at the gallery are fairly commonplace, with over 500 shoots taking place there every year. If you’re happy to fork over $17,500, you can also have private access to the gallery for a full day. Not that the gallery would actually comment on the figure that Beyoncé and Jay-Z paid for access this time around.
The “APESHIT” video frames the Carters around famous works like da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, the “Venus de Milo”, and “Winged Victory of Samothrace”, as well as Marie-Guillemine Benoist’s “Portrait of a Black Woman (Negress)”, as we explored in a recent feature.
Watch the video below.