Yves Saint Laurent and Art

Celebrating sixty years of Yves Saint Laurent, this collection juxtaposes YSL creations with fine art masterpieces from major museums.

In January 1962, Yves Saint Laurent launched his very first collection. To celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of his couture house, the Musee Yves Saint Laurent, Paris, is looking back at the couturier's work and juxtaposing his creations with art works from the collections of five major Paris institutions: the Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Centre Pompidou, the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Musee Picasso, as well as presenting a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the secrets of couture at the Musee Yves Saint Laurent.

From the ancient world to pop art, Yves Saint Laurent regularly took inspiration from art history as he combined colors, carved out new forms, and rethought the structure of garments in order to create his own masterpieces. Here, androgynous silhouettes and Proustian gowns stand alongside Edouard Manet's Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe, feather patterns respond to Jackson Pollock's drip paintings, flowing silhouettes merge with a mural by Raoul Dufy, Lucio Fontana's neon lights make metallic fabrics sparkle, and the motifs on a coat echo The Dance by Henri Matisse.

Exploring the couturier's deliberate homages to the masters of art and his never-ending quest for new means of aesthetic expression, Yves Saint Laurentand Art takes readers on an unforgettable journey through art history with Yves Saint Laurent as a guide.

180 illustrations