SALON

Thursday, Jun 30, 2011 12:50 PM UTC

The Mona Lisa in plastic

The line of collector toys are modeled after works by Da Vinci, Van Gogh and Klimt

By

Topics: Consumerism,

The Mona Lisa in plasticThe Mona Lisa doll from Barbie's "Museum Collection."

Designers of collector Barbie dolls have hardly been deterred from unlikely projects in the past. There’s a Frank Sinatra Barbie, despite the fact that Frank Sinatra was a man. There’s a Sydney Opera House Barbie, despite the fact that the Sydney Opera House is a building.

Starting tomorrow, Barbie enthusiasts can also get their hands on dolls inspired by classic paintings — namely The Mona Lisa, Gustav Klimt’s “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I,” and  Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (never mind that there aren’t actually any people in that last one).

Randy Kennedy at The New York Times points out that the dolls, however ridiculous, are certainly more affordable than the paintings that inspired them:

Ronald Lauder bought [Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer] for what some reported to be $135 million in 2006, one of the highest prices ever paid for an artwork. The Barbie, with a winged hairdo and a dress that gets the dazzling Byzantine mosaic pattern from the painting almost right — minus Klimt’s gold-leaf — goes for $34.95.

But since the dolls’ resemblance to the artistic masterworks in question is tenuous at best, it looks like collectors will be getting what they pay for — or maybe even less. Let’s compare, shall we?

Here’s Vincent Van Gogh Barbie:

 

And the real deal:

Emma Mustich is a Salon contributor. Follow her on Twitter: @emustich. More Emma Mustich.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 15 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: Chekhov's story mirrors Russia's own

Recommendations