Yves Saint Laurent in Six Museums

The unique exhibition “Yves Saint Laurent aux musées”, held in Paris on the occasion of the 60th birthday of the Fashion House, offers a colorful confrontation between fashion and the works of art that inspired the legendary designer.

It all started with a book about the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian. The little-known at the time pioneer of the abstract art inspired Yves Saint Laurent a series of dresses like geometric paintings, presented at the show of the autumn-winter 1965 collection. Their avant-garde style has left a deep imprint on our day and has become an endless object of interpretation by contemporary artists. By creating these legendary Mondrian dresses, the designer provoked the "shock of modernity", and began to change the interface between fashion and art, turning painting into a moving work-art and fashion into art. The designer continued his ingenious "dialogue with art" with Pablo Picasso, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Fernando Léger, Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, sculptor Claude Lalanne ...

In 1983, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York hosted a retrospective exhibition by Y. Saint Laurent.  He was the first stylist to enter the Museum of Fine Arts at the height of his fame, causing a scandal at the time. 

The talented "architect" of clothing did not stop to "invent" himself through art and literature.  Because of this strong connection with the creators who fascinated and inspired him, Y. Saint Laurent became a passionate collector. He had an excellent library, and with his business and life partner Pierre Bergé has amassed a very valuable art collection over the past 50 years. Like all great aesthetes, they both adored luxury. A magnificent two-storey house in Paris, the picturesque Gabriel Castle in Normandy, dedicated to the designer's favorite writer Marcel Proust, the unique Majorelle Villa in Marrakech has been transformed into an eclectic, refined museum.

Following the death of the rebellious king of fashion in June 2008, Bergé decided to sell an exclusive collection of 700 works of art, leaving only the famous series of portraits of Y. Saint Laurent painted by Andy Warhol. On February 23-25, 2009, the Christie's held a century-long auction at Le Grand Palais in Paris for a record $373.5 million. In this way, the important page of his whole life was radically turned, but Y. Saint Laurent's passion for art-radiant decoration remained.

The talented and receptive witness to the development of artistic creation in the 20th century was strongly influenced by cubism, modernism, and abstract pop art.  Y. Saint Laurent's talent is precise, with his strong, original masterpieces, he created a harmonious dialogue of shapes, lines, colors (black dress next to Ellsworth Kelly in 1965, green fox fur (1971) - stylized skirt motif next to a painting honoring Martial Raysse Ingres) ), uniquely imitating Fernand Léger’s flower of painted cement, the chromatic energy of Sonios et Robert Delaunay, echoed in Picasso’s evening dress (1979), and Saint Laurent particularly appreciated the Pompidou Center’s collection of contemporary art.

The Picasso Museum recalls that, according to Y. Saint Laurent, this Spanish artist was an absolute genius, to whom he even dedicated two collections. The almost literal reconstruction of the jacket of Nusch Éluard (1937), a surreal muse, not only indirectly pays tribute to Elsa Schiaparelli, but also shows how the designer deconstructed fashion to reinvent it, this time using rather mild cubism.  Often the same garment was inspired by two or three different sources, and there is never just one level of its reading.

The Museum of Modern Art is greeting us with a colorful installation of satin dresses (of 1992 and 1995) - a monumental fresco by Raoul Dufy entitled “The Electric Fairy” (1937) in the middle of the decorated hall.  Next is a naughty touch on the pop art version of the Frenchman Alain Jacquet's "Lunch on the Grass" (1964) based on the famous canvas of the same name by E. Manet.  At the time, a very avant-garde work using silk-screen printing gave Y. Saint Laurent the idea to create a young, lively, audacious spring and summer 1966 collection and an iconic pea-themed coat. 

In one of the most prestigious spaces of the Louvre Museum - the Gallery of Apollo, arranged at the request of the Louis XIV - four extremely luxurious jackets-ornaments embroidered with rich rhinestones, gold or silver are exhibited. The king-worthy sunny costumes reflect Y. Saint Laurent’s passion for decorative art, majestic embellishments, the golden color of the rulers, as well as the exceptional knowledge of French artisans. The heart of gray and red rhinestone and white pearls beats nearby (1962). This most expensive mascot of the designer is ritually adorned by his muse at the end of the performances of all the collections.

The Orsay Museum focuses on Y. Saint Laurent’s favorite writer, M. Proust. One expression of this passion was the dresses created in December 1971 by Baron and Baroness Guy de Rothschilds for the Prusto Ball, worn by Marie-Hélène de Rothschild, Countess de Ribes, Hélène Rochas and Jane Birkin.  Abandoning the tragedy of the last pages of the epic The Search for Lost Time, he preferred lightness and extravagance, as if the characters imagined by the writer should shine forever and their identities remain ambiguous. This is well illustrated by the masterpiece presented to the public in 1966 - the first female tuxedo borrowed from "male" silhouettes, which unexpectedly added even more sensuality.