The contributions and influence of American artistMadonna (born 1958) in the landscape ofunderground andcontemporary arts have been documented by a variety of sources such as art publications, scholars andart critics. As her footprints inthe arts are lesser-known compared to her other roles, this led a contributor fromW to conclude that both her impact and influence in theart world have been "made almost entirely behind the scenes". She is noted for taking inspiration from various painters in her career. Once called a "continuous multi-media art project" byJon Pareles in 1990, art critics and academics have noted she condenses fashion, dance, photography, sculpture, cinema, music, video and painting in her ownartwork.
Madonna's interest in the arts began in her early life. When she moved to New York City to pursue a career inmodern dance, she befriended and dated various plastic artists, includingAndy Warhol,Martin Burgoyne,Keith Haring and her boyfriendJean-Michel Basquiat. Around that time, Madonna'sgraffiti tag was "Boy Toy", which later used in her professional career, and immortalized their friendship in the song "Graffiti Heart".
Madonna is anart collector, included amongArt & Antiques' 100 Biggest Collectors. She has been also known as an "art supporter" and has usedart for charity. In 2001, Madonna lent herSelf-Portrait with Monkey byFrida Kahlo at theTate Modern, which was the first British exhibition dedicated to Kahlo. Madonna sponsored variousart exhibitions of contemporary artists such as Basquiat,Cindy Sherman andTina Modotti. Her other activities include to co-initiate "Art for Freedom" in 2012, runs the artistic installationX-STaTIC Pro=CeSS (2003) and create theNFTdigital artworks, "Mother of Creation" along withMike Winkelmann ("Beeple") in 2022.
Throughout her career, her visuals and artistry have attracted both celebratory and derogatory commentaries. Late-twentieth-century views on Madonna were a constant amidlow andhigh culture, with some labeling her amodernist. By the next century,Dahlia Schweitzer said that many critics have long resisted using the words "Madonna" and "artistic" in the same sentence, and for supporters like art historian Kyra Belán, she is a "symbol for female achievement" in differentart forms. She was referred to as a contemporarygesamtkunstwerk and theart-pop queen, while American performing artistDavid Blaine said that perhaps she "is herself her own greatest work of art". Her influence has been noted in a number of contemporary artists, includingSilvia Prada,Trisha Baga andPegasus. Various artists have depicted Madonna either once or multiple times, includingPeter Howson,Andrew Logan,Sebastian Krüger andAl Hirschfeld. Madonna's likeness and some of her own works have also been displayed in museums andart galleries exhibitions around the world, including the video of "Bedtime Story", which became part ofMuseum of Modern Art'spermanent collection.
The story of Madonna's origins as an artist is as important as the music itself in understanding the impact she's had on bringing theunderground into the mainstream.
Madonna's background with the arts, and how it influenced her future career, have been documented. In a conversation with curatorVince Aletti in 1999, she said her interest in art started as a child.[2] She visited theDetroit Institute of Arts, which is how she found out aboutFrida Kahlo and started reading about her.[2] Madonna also mentioned her Catholic education, saying "there's art everywhere" in the churches, "so you get introduced to it that way".[2]
From early on, Madonna's father encouraged his children to take classes related to art disciplines. He wanted her to takepiano lessons, which she tried. While music was on her motivations and goals, the piano wasn't.[3] She had a friend who was taking ballet lessons, and she talked her father into letting her takeballet instead of piano.[3] For Madonna, dance was a gateway for discovery in other arts in which she has maintained a lifelong interest, wrote biographer Carol Gnojewski.[4] She studied in the performing arts school dance, music theory andart history. She also took aShakespearean course.[5]
In Rochester School of Ballet, she met its instructor Christopher Flynn, who took a special interest in helping her succeed.[3] Flynn took it upon himself to become her mentor, impressed by her talent and ambition, exposing her to Detroit's museums, operas, concerts, art galleries, and fashion shows.[4][6] Her tastes broadened to include classical music,Pre-Raphaelite painters, and poets.[4]
.jpg)
Madonna pursued a career inmodern dance, moving to New York City in the late 1970s. She attended numerous museums for free,[2] and worked as anart nude model inart schools for photographers such asMartin Schreiber andLee Friedlander.[8] This brought her into contact with painters and photographers. Madonna would later declared: "People painted me all the time".[9] She briefly took classes of photography, painting and drawing.[10]
While pursuing her dance career, Madonna also attended the 1978American Dance Festival at Duke University in Durham, meetingPearl Lang who became later her dance mentor and helped her get a work at theRussian Tea Room.[7] About her participation in the festival, Richard Maschal, whom interviewed her forThe Charlotte Observer in 1978, described the then dance student as "what the American Dance Festival is about".[11] A year later, she successfully auditioned to perform in Paris with French disco artistPatrick Hernandez as his backup singer and dancer. She was selected by Fernandez from an audition attended of 1,500 people, impressed by her stage presence.[12] Hernandez and his team, also took interest to grom her as a star, and her Parisian patrons, intended to develop and marked Madonna as a disco singer, paying her expenses, and further classes for singing, dancing and conversational French lessons.[7] Hernandez claims that his fame motivated Madonna, as he and his friends "succeeded" in convincing her that she could become a major recording star.[7] She grew deeply dissatisfied with the pace of her career as dictated by her managers, and she also didn't respond well to the disco music. Then she returned to New York City.[7]
OutletContemporary Art explained that Madonna made her first connection with the local art scene of New York in clubs located on theLower East Side andSoHo, includingDanceteria,The Limelight,The Roxy, Funhouse,Mudd Club and theParadise Garage, frequented bySchool of Visual Arts artists and others public figures.[14] She befriended various painters, graffiti and visual artists such asKeith Haring,Futura 2000,Fab Five Freddy and Daze.[15][16] In 1978, she met graffiti artist Norris Burroughs, with whom she had a brief relationship.[15]
ArtistMartin Burgoyne, was her roommate on the Lower East Side, and became her best friend.[17] In an interview withAustin Scaggs, she said a roommate introduced her to Haring, but she was already aware of his art.[16] Her then boyfriendJean-Michel Basquiat, introduced Madonna toAndy Warhol,Glenn O'Brien, andLarry Gagosian.[16] Gagosian recalled that Basquiat said, "She'll be the biggest pop star in the world".[18] O'Brien later edited Madonna's 1992Sex book and worked with her onThe Girlie Show World Tour book in 1993.[19][20] Madonna met Darlene Lutz through O'Brien, who became her personal art advisor from 1983 to 2004.[21][22]
In an interview with American artistDavid Blaine in 2014, Madonna talked about the close relationship she had with Burgoyne, Haring and Basquiat, as they hung out together with Warhol joining them sometimes.[17][16] She wrote anarticle forThe Guardian in 1996, discussing her relationship with Basquiat,[23] and wrote about her friendship with Haring inKeith Haring: The Authorized Biography (1992) by art criticJohn Gruen.[24] Madonna further immortalized their friendship in the song "Graffiti Heart" from her 2015 album,Rebel Heart.[25] She is also mentioned in Warhol's diaryThe Andy Warhol Diaries.[26] In 2019,Sky Arts'Urban Myths dedicated an episode,Madonna & Basquiat to their relationship.[13]
During the spent time with her graffiti artist friends in New York, she used thegraffiti tag "Boy Toy", making her own graffiti in walks, subways or sidewalks.[16] The moniker referred to one of her boyfriends, RP3, a subwayscratchitti artist who also used the tag and gave it to her.[27][28][29] She later used it as the name of her copyright company, as well as a belt buckle of her dress worn for herLike a Virgin-era.[25]
Her early visuals/presentation were often described aspop art. In the 1990s, criticMartha Bayles said she cultivated a "heavy-duty pop art image".[30] Editor Paul Flynn called her "a pop artist in the Warholian sense of the word",[31] while John R. May in 1997, fromLouisiana State University describes her a "successful piece of pop art" and as "asplendor formae ofaesthetic".[32] InPastiche: Cultural Memory in Art, Film, Literature (2001), Ingeborg Hoesterey fromIndiana University, asserts: "Madonna came from the beginning very much from theplastic arts. When she splashed onto the music scene, she did so by quoting thekitsch of devotional Virgin artifacts that (Mexican) figurative painters critiqued in the seventies".[33]
Madonna was considered both avisual musical artist andperformer rather than a musician, with Canadian scholarKarlene Faith commenting in the late 1990s, about "her abundant talent as a visual artist".[34] Thomas Harrison, from theUniversity of Central Florida, recognized various female artists before her, but he felt she "took it to a whole other level" always embracing the visual aspects.[35]The Irish Times staffers even regarded Madonna as "the first female pop star to fully engage with the visual elements of her art".[36]
Her "knowledge" was commented on by various during the height of her career. In 2000,American Photo's editor-in-chief, David Schonauer commented she is perhaps "one of the most visually savvy humans on earth".[37] FromJohn A. Walker toVince Aletti, critics remarked her "knowledgeable" and references of photography.[10][38] In hisMadonna biography,Andrew Morton commented that her "stunning visual sense" is no accident as she "spent a lifetime" studying photographs, black-and-white movies and paintings.[39] In 1994, Richard R. Burt cites a reporter who saw her as an "astute if untrainedart critic".[40]Los Angeles Times criticPatrick Goldstein once commented about her attendance at "Degenerate Art" (1991) held inLos Angeles County Museum of Art, "she's savvy enough" but her "interests are largely visual".[41] Madonna herself, declared that her primarily interest in art are "suffering, and irony and a certain bizarre sense of humour".[10]
Madonna is reported to be often inspired by the visual artistsshe collects.[42] She once stated: "Every video I've done has been inspired by some painting or work of art".[43][10]Decades noted art as being part of her personal life and professional career.[44] In 2020, she said: "Art has kept me alive".[45]
A number of observers have commented about specific artists. ScholarKocku von Stuckrad recalls how Frida Kahlo became her role model.[46] Some other scholars, including Pamela Robertson from theUniversity of Notre Dame, and Georges-Claude Guilbert describes she captured the "full force of Warhol" and described him as the "virtual father of Madonna", respectively.[47] ScholarsSandra M. Gilbert andSusan Gubar agree that "the work ofCindy Sherman prefigured Madonna's style in the art world".[48] InUnderstand Postmodernism: Teach Yourself (2010), Glenn Ward said work of the pair can be "compared".[49] A portrait ofLee Miller kissing another woman byMan Ray that she owns, inspired her and encouraged the use of lesbian imagery.[10]
Walker commented thatPicasso was a precedent for Madonna's reinventions, as he was an artist who changed his style a number of times.[10] Madonna herself stated in 2015: "I like to compare myself to other kinds of artists, like Picasso". She also commented that believes there is not a time or expiration date for beingcreative. Like Picasso, she adds, "he kept painting and painting until the day he died".[50]
Since her debut, she has worked with various visual artists. For instance, her friendMartin Burgoyne designed the cover art of "Burning Up" (1983), which featured a grid of twenty postage stamp-sized portraits of Madonna in every color of therainbow,[51] while graffiti artistMichael Stewart appeared as a dancer in her debut music video "Everybody".[52] Her brotherChristopher Ciccone also collaborated with her in her early career, including as theart director of her1990's tours.[53]
Street artistMr. Brainwash entered the music scene when Madonna commissioned him to design the cover art ofCelebration, itsvideo compilation, and a special edition vinyl.[54] In 2017, Madonna invited Brazilian street artistEduardo Kobra to paint two murals at theMercy James Institute for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care.[55] Brazilian visual artist Aldo Diaz was hired by Madonna for work on different projects, starting with the single "Bitch I'm Madonna" in 2015 and continuing through her official calendar of 2018.[56] She also forged collaborative friendship withfine-art, portrait and fashion photographers.
Within theart world, Madonna is almost as well known for being acollector as she is for her music.
Madonna has made several appearances on the art scene. In this regard, Kriston Capps fromNew York magazine said that she "has arguably been edging around the corners of contemporary art her entire career".[58] In 2016, Rain Embuscado fromArtnet commented that she "has always had a hand in the art world".[59]
British art historian,John A. Walker documented her life and career from the perspective of the arts in the early 2000s.[10] In 1990, the arts-basedBBC1 seriesOmnibus broadcast a profile on Madonna, which was watched by 7.7 million people; slightly higher than the average audience of 3.1 million.[60]
In 2001, she presented theTurner Prize atTate Britain in London, receiving positive comments from BBC's art correspondent,Rosie Millard.[61] It was called as "a rare marriage of pop and art" byThe Independent.[62] British linguisticRoy Harris called her appearance a merger between art and showbiz.[63] In 2014, she presentedThe Wall Street Journal's Innovation Award at MoMA to her former dancer,Charles Riley for his contributions to theperforming arts.[64] In 2017, she was the special guest with visual artistMarilyn Minter atA Year of Yes: Reimagining Feminism at theBrooklyn Museum in its special segmentBrooklyn Talks: Madonna x Marilyn where both addressed topics of art and culture. The event was moderated byAnne Pasternak,Elizabeth Alexander,Shelby White andLeon Levy.[65]
Alex Greenberger fromArtspace said Madonna has also made art.[67] In 2003, she collaborated withSteven Klein on the art installationX-STaTIC Pro=CeSS which was on display at international art galleries such asDeitch Projects,Gagosian Gallery and Camera Work in Berlin.[67][68] The multimedia exhibit was touted as "Madonna's art world debut".[69] According to art criticWalter Robinson, the project was "too cheesy to be art" but "philosophically speaking, no slight accomplishment in art world that privileges everything".[70] InMadonna: Like an Icon (2007),Lucy O'Brien described it as one of her most fascinating projects, and also considered it marked her transition into a new phase through her use of visuals.[71]
In 2013, Madonna co-initiated "Art for Freedom" withVice magazine, as an effort to support independent creators of art content around the world and to promote and facilitate artistic andfree expression.[72][67] She made a performante at Gagosian Gallery in New York, to mark the launch of the initiative, showing her bound, handcuffed, and dragged on stage by performers in police uniforms.[58]
In 2022, along with digital artistMike Winkelmann ("Beeple"), Madonna created aNFT project called "Mother of Creation" consisting of three videos, namely "Mother of Nature", "Mother of Evolution" and "Mother of Technology".[73][74] Each of the digital artworks is accompanied by music and a voiceover by Madonna, who reads poetry by poetJalaluddin Rumi and reportedly spent one year creating the project.[75][76] Launched in the NTF platform SuperRare,[77] the project became a subject of scrutiny, with Gareth Harris fromThe Art Newspaper saying: "There have been stranger collaborations in the art world, but not many have been as headline-hitting" of the pair partnership,[75] while art magazineApollo said it further "raise a flicker of interest" in the NFT.[77]
Madonna "has quietly sponsored many[art] exhibitions over the years", wrote Máire Ní Fhlathúin inThe Legacy of Colonialism (1998), while her then art adviser, said she "doesn't want or need the press for everything she does".[78]
In 1992, Madonna sponsored the firstJean-Michel Basquiat museum retrospective at theWhitney Museum of American Art.[79][80][14] In 1995, she sponsored the first major retrospective ofTina Modotti at thePhiladelphia Museum of Art on which curator and art historianAnne d'Harnoncourt commented: "She seemed a natural sponsor for an exhibition that introduces the artist to a broader public".[81] In 1996, Madonna sponsored an exhibition of Basquiat's paintings at theSerpentine Gallery in London.[82] Madonna was the only sponsor for theCindy Sherman's first retrospectiveUntitled Film Stills at theMuseum of Modern Art (MoMA) in 1997.[83][84][85]
She has visited numerous museums, including various attendances at MoMA launch parties,[42] and atTate galleries while she lived in the United Kingdom.[86] For the latter museum, she lent Kahlo'sSelf-Portrait with Monkey atTate Modern, which was the first British exhibition dedicated to Frida Kahlo.[87][88] The decision to loan the painting only came after several weeks of negotiation, which was partly delayed due theSeptember 11 attacks.[87][86] Commenting on the loan, Madonna felt "the exhibit would not be complete without" that painting.[87]
Madonna is anart collector, with a collection worth between $100 million and $160 million.[89][90][67]Artnet deemed her possessions ablue-chip collection.[91] She started collecting after receiving her first paycheck in the early 1980s and hired Darlene Lutz as her personalart dealer, who worked with her from 1983 to 2004.[92][42][21] Both Darlene and Madonna's brotherChristopher Ciccone, bid at auctions on her behalf, with a budget no larger than $5 million.[89] Called by a spokesman of Tate Gallery in 2001, as a "distinguished art collector",[62] she appeared among the 100 Biggest Collectors byArt & Antiques, circa 1996, andThe Hollywood Reporter's Top 25 Art Collectors in 2013.[93][90]
Her collection is based primarily onmodernists,[91] and include over 300 pieces of artists such asSalvador Dalí,Pablo Picasso,Fernand Léger andFrida Kahlo.[90][67] She also acquired works byOld Masters, including Italian painterMaster of 1310.[21]Austin Scaggs asked Madonna if she has paintings of her friends Warhol and Haring and her former boyfriend Basquiat; "Have a few of each", she replied.[16] During an interview withHoward Stern in 2015, she explained why she didn't have various of the paintings Basquiat had given her during their relationship.[94] In 2021, she posted a series of photos of herself at home with a Basquiat drawing of her portrait.[95] Madonna also collects artisticportrait pictures. In the 1990s, she paid $165,000 for Modotti'sRoses then the highest price ever commanded by a print at auction.[81][96]
The worksUntitled (1985) by American painterJulia Wachtel andThe Six Second Epic (1986) by Kenji Fujita were bought by theBrooklyn Museum with funds from Madonna "CicconePenn".[97][98] In the early 2000s, she was both regarded as an "art-lover" and supporter ofmodern art.[62][86][99] In the early 1990s, anthropologistNéstor García Canclini recognized her support forfeminist art.[100] According to Tate Gallery, she has a long-standing interest incontemporary British art.[62] Madonna later supported or benefited a number of unknown artists, by exposing their works on social media or purchasing their works. Some examples were reported by media.[101][102][56][103][104] In 2024, according to media reports, she will fund a youth art project in Pompeii, Italy, named "Sogno di Volare" (in English: "Dream of Flying") for 2025.[105]
During theRebel Heart era, she invited herfandom through an online contest to createfan art to display in backdrop videos for herRebel Heart Tour.[106] Some of the artworks became part of an art exhibition in Italy at thePalazzo Saluzzo di Paesana titledIconic – Portraits & Artwork inspired by The Queen with 50 pieces from 20 international artists and chosen by Madonna.[107] InLife with My Sister Madonna, her brother also recognized how she encouraged him, while also lent him $200,000 to buy a studio where he began to paint regularly.[108][89] Before his identity was revealed, she showed support to "Rhed" (Rocco Ciccone), her son with British filmmakerGuy Ritchie.[109] Once his identity was revealed, in 2022, art criticJonathan Jones made the suggestion "that the artist had been put into the public eye too soon".[109]
She has usedart for charity. A canvas painting by Madonna went to a charity auction in 1991, and was bought by actorJason Hervey.[110] She hosted a family art sale with two of her children to raise money for victims of the2020 Beirut explosion.[111] In 2022, Madonna andAnthony Vaccarello curated and organizedSex by Madonna atArt Basel from November 29 to December 4, a free-passpop-up exhibition honoring the 30 years of her first bookSex.[112] A re-edition of 800 copies was released with the proceeds going to her charitable organizationRaising Malawi.[113][114] When her project "Art for Freedom" was operating, she donated $10,000 each month to a nonprofit organization of a featured artist's choice.[115][67] Her NFT project with "Beeple" generated primary auction sales volume of $612,000, destined to three charities picked by the pair.[76]
In 2013, Madonna soldThree Women at the Red Table (1921) byFernand Léger which she bought in 1990 for $3.4 million, raising $7.2 million. This was in support offemale education through herRay of Light Foundation.[116] The action was reportedly a combination of her passions for art and education, with Madonna declaring: "I want to trade something valuable for something invaluable – Educating Girls!".[117] In 2016, during herMadonna: Tears of a Clown at Art Basel, Miami she held anart auction to benefit Raising Malawi and art and education initiatives. She auctioned pieces of artists such asDamien Hirst andTracey Emin. Combined with other personal belongings, she raised more than $7.5 million.[118][119]
Madonna has been reported to useshock art/value, and supports artists whom push the "barriers of social norms".[121] Around 2012, during her stance on the arrest ofPussy Riot in Russia, she stated "art should be political", and in her understanding, "art, historically speaking, always reflects what's going on socially".[122] The title of her albumRebel Heart (2015) explores her belief that contemporary music artists are not encouraged or inspired to be "rebellious": take risks or speak-up.[123]
Madonna created controversy when she presented the Turner Prize in 2001 toMartin Creed and told the audience: "Right on, motherfuckers— everyone is a winner!". InIs Art History Global? (2013), art historianJames Elkins quotes Glyn Davis by saying on the event: "It would, of course, be inappropriate to see this as a radical intervention in art historical discourse. However, the clash ofNicholas Serota and pop icon Madonna produces its own pleasurable frisson; seeing a woman talk about art on television remains a rare sight, and it always to be welcome".[124] British art historianJulian Stallabrass was convinced that the intention without doubt of having Madonna announce the Tate's Turner Prize, was to raise the profile of the event further. However, Stallabrass stated that the effect and the art displayed took on the role of more or less interesting diversions to the main spectacle of the "singer's publicity-hungry misbehaviour".[125] Madonna's NFT videos produced along with "Beeple", received criticism from art critics likeBen Davis for her fully nude digitalized 3D character, while giving birth to butterflies, trees, and insects such as robotic centipedes through an actual scan of her genitals.[76][75] She defended the project by saying: "I'm doing what women have been doing since the beginning of time, which is giving birth. But on a more existential level, I'm giving birth to art & creativity & we would be lost without both".[126]
After allegedly refusing to loan a painting by Frida Kahlo to theDetroit Institute of Arts, she garnered some criticism.[127] However, cultural criticVince Carducci in one conclusion said that "my suspicion is that the request never bubbled up to her".[128] Art journalistLindsay Pollock openly questioned her afterAndreas Gursky's work originally given to her as a gift was subsequently sold atSotheby's.[129] In January 2023,Brigitte Fouré, major of French cityAmiens asked her to lendJérôme-Martin Langlois'slost paintingDiana and Endymion to the city, as it may be in her private collection. Thinking of Madonna as the possible owner, Fouré believes the singer obtained the artwork without permission, by saying "Clearly, we don't contest in any way that you have acquired this work legally".[130][131]
Madonna's performances are art, after all—art that incorporates a play of sometimes conflicting social and political ideas
The development of her body of work from a creative perspective and her footprints within different performing arts were commented on by different sociologists and commentators,[133] including American poetJane Miller and editorMark Watts.[134] Speaking about the critical interest she aroused, author Jason Hanley commented in 2015 that her performances made critics and scholars "stand up" and take note of her sound, style and message.[135]
Rather than a musician, Madonna was considered aperformer.[133] In 2007, Paul Rutherford, professor at theUniversity of Toronto considered her a visual performer with "extraordinary stage presence".[136] In 2022, Italian scholars fromUniversity of Macerata, concurred saying she has constructed an innovative "poetics of performances".[133] The same year, Samuel R. Murrian fromParade considered her the "modern master ofperformance art".[137] In 2018, Kyra Belán, an art historian and professor fromBroward College, stated she achieved major success as an artist within severalart forms, further labeling her as a female achievement.[138] InWomen in Russian Theatre (2013), however, Catherine Schule explained that various "avant-garde critics regard her performances as trendy schlock rather than legitimate art".[139]
.jpg)
During best part of her career, she attracted significant praise for her stage shows; they were regarded as "organized sequences of events, scripts, known texts and movements".[133] According to authorMichael Heatley in 2008, she "always set high standards with her stage shows".[140] Described astableaux vivants, senior lecturer Ian Inglis said in 2013 that her live performances have been celebrated as "theatrical events", while others deem them "immaculate performances".[141][142] Writing forSlant Magazine in 2015, Sal Cinquemani considered her "the greatest performer of our time", saying she is a "showgirl" with theatrical shows of "narrative storytelling".[143]
Madonna has been credited with helping propel artistic concepts for stage shows and tours in her generation, mainly for mainstream pop music shows. Some pointed out, how she divided into "thematic categories" her concerts in unusual forms.[144] InWilliam Baker's words, the splitting of sections derived that pretty much everyone copies or everyone is inspired by,[145] and further mentioned "the modern pop concert experience was created by Madonna really".[145] Lester Brathwaite fromLogo TV, said she "transformed the concept of a rock concert from a mere live show into true performance art".[146] Scholars and journalists, includingBerrin Yanıkkaya andMatt Cain, detailed how she "paved the way" of extravaganza in concerts as a theatrical spectacle and having the female figure at center stage.[147][148] If a specific title is mentioned, it is generally theBlond Ambition World Tour, for which Jacob Bernstein ofThe New York Times recognized other contemporary musicians, but with Madonna, he says, she set the tone.[149] Speaking about her perceived influence, inThe Twisted Tale of Glam Rock (2010), Stuart Lenig wrote: "Over the decades, Madonna's carefully choreographed and performed shows became a gold standard of pop theatre, inspiring others to re-embrace the stage".[150]
.jpg)
Madonna's videos have received considerable critical attention since theMTV generation of the 1980s. Reviews of her music videos have played a major role in her academic scrutiny,[152] and a scholar has argued that she became "the most analyzed" figure among female music video stars.[153] On the point,Martha Bayles said in the mid-1990s, "pundits, professors and preachers" tried to interpret Madonna "taking her far more seriously than others", further explaining that it was "more important one's relation to the visual arts instead one's musical statement".[30]
Her videos were considered not merely commercial productions, butvisual performances.[133] On this, Rutherford, said her videos have been part of her visual presentation and artistic renditions.[136] Rutherford noted how she put "considerable time" and money into crafting what were often "elaborate productions" (she owns some of themost expensive videos).[136] Her influence in the videos as anart form, was commented on by criticArmond White in 2015, who said "she elevated this into a memorable expressive art form" and perceived her "art-consciousness" influence in artists such asBjörk orLady Gaga.[154] He called Madonna's connection with that zeitgeist "historic".[154] By diverse measurements, Madonna was credited as "the first female artist to exploit fully the potential of the music video".[155] ScholarNorman Fairclough made the suggestion that "the evolution of the music video could indeed be studied through Madonna".[156] White even credited Madonna for helping "popularize" the music video format.[154] Her impact in the format was compared to that of Michael Jackson by Sarah Frink fromConsequence, while she further credited her for set "the standard".[157] Similar connotations were discussed by editors fromVH1,[158] andSlant Magazine.[159] Retrospectively, she has been critically appreciated by mentions or rankings by music-targeted publications such asMTV,Billboard andNerdist who have listed her among the most significant music video artists.[160][161] Her contemporary reception is also attested by publications such asThe Vindicator andMontreal Gazette in the early 1990s.[162][163]
_2.jpg)
Her role as a dancer also defined best part of her career; according to professor Thomas Harrison ofJacksonville University in 2011, "others have considered that her role as a musician and producer is secondary to her role as a dancer".[165] The same year,Rolling Stone staffers commented she is "entirely synonymous with dancing".[166] Various scholars anddance critics have reviewed her in the artistic discipline; American sociologistCindy Patton was one of the first in articulate the "cultural" and "proto-political" effects of dance culture with her.[167] In 2015, aThe Guardian dance critic, noted her forays within several dance forms from "serious art" to club trends.[164]
However, as a dancer, Madonna met mixed responses. InPopular Music and the Politics of Hope (2019) authors observed that she is "routinely dismissed by scholars, critics, and fellow artists alike as someone who 'can't sing and can't dance'".[168] In late twentieth century, criticLucy Sante called her "a graceless dancer".[169] Others, includingInterview magazine staffers in 2011, referred to her as "the best dancer/performer since Michael Jackson".[170]
Madonna's greatness has always hinged on how she channeled dance trends into pop songs [...] which provided a neat way to sneak underground club trends into the mainstream.
Included amongRolling Stone's poll of the "10 Favorite Dancing Musicians" in 2011, she was credited by the magazine to help bringing many underground dancing or its elements into the mainstream culture.[166] Similarly,John Leland wrote forNewsweek in 1992, how Madonna embraced "underground nightclub subcultures" throughout her career and "taking them mainstream".[172] Publishing company,DK noted her influence in dance styles such asvoguing andkrumping saying she helped made them "globally popular".[173] O'Brien noted her influence inrave culture in the 1990s, andPublic Culture ingay ball dance form.[174][175] TheSmithsonian Institution said Madonna helped transform pop concerts into dance spectacles, further crediting her with popularizing the use ofheadset microphones to allow greater movement and used choreography.[176] Though she was not the first artist to use the technology, due to her prominent usage, a model became known as "Madonna mic".[177] The institution also deemed Madonna as the first performer to use her tours as reenactments of her music videos.[176]
Madonna'sacting career was also analyzed fromfilm studies, with British cultural theoristAngela McRobbie, adding she was analyzed from perspectives offeminist film theory.[178] Madonna was considered by journalists of publications likePortland Mercury andVanity Fair as an "unusual case",[179][180] while authorsLou Harry and Eric Furman concurred saying in 2005, that "there are few actors or actresses in the movies who have bombed in as many genres as Madonna has".[181] Her industry reception, however, at best was "mixed" according to aThe Daily Telegraph contributor.[182]Los Angeles Times echoed criticisms and counter-criticisms,[183] with editors ofEncyclopedia of Women in Today's World (2011), noting how some have seen her films or acting as "notable".[184] Publications and authors, including Australian writer Clint Morris and websiteQueerty have elaborated listicles of her best movies or acting roles,[185][186] while others have included her among best acting performances by musicians in movies, includingFar Out,Collider andBillboard.[187][188][189] For commentators like Kellner and Fresán, Madonna was better received as an actress in her music videos.[190][191]
Her films such asMadonna: Truth or Dare,[192][193] andDesperately Seeking Susan,[194][195] garneredcult status in some audiences. Madonna also collected various number-one songs from motion pictures, withBillboard'sFred Bronson saying in 1995, that only Bryan Adams, Phil Collins, Prince and Madonna belongs to the very small club of artists who have had four soundtrack singles hit the top.[196]
.png)
According to English writerAndrew Morton in 2001, various ofher films have been exhibited in museums around the world as "modern works of art", including thePompidou Center in Paris.[39] In 2016,MoMA PS1 screenedMadonna: Truth or Dare celebrating its 25th anniversary and impact.[197] Her film career have been part of some tributes, including a comedic tribute in 2009 namedAlmost Human: Madonna on Film, hosted byDavid Schmader at Central Cinema,[198] whileMetrograph devoted theBody of Word: A Madonna Retrospective in 2016, a five-days retrospective celebrating her film career.[199] A month-thematic Madonna film series was announced to be held at The Roxy Cinema in New York starting on July 27 and running through August 2023.[200]
Some of her videos were part of art exhibitions, notoriously, "Bedtime Story" on display permanently at theMuseum of Modern Art (MoMA) and then inMuseum of the Moving Image of London.[201][202] Other entities like theSchool of Visual Arts screened the video as well.[203] The 2000 articleMadonna and Hypertext, published by theNational Art Education Association in theirStudies in Art Education, explored two Madonna's videos.[204]
She has inspired some dance visuals performances. For instance, Singaporean composer, painter and poet,Mark Chan displayed the "Dreaming of Kuanyin, Meeting Madonna" (2007) at theSingapore International Festival of Arts, a dance and visual poem that combined dance moves, inspired byKuanyin,Virgin Mary and Madonna.[205] In 2018, Madonna was awarded by the High School of Performing Arts in Malaga (in Spanish: Escuela Superior de Artes Escénicas de Málaga, ESAEM). They rendered a performance tribute calledMadonna Revolution.[206] In 2015, she received a tribute in the Canadian'sL'International des Feux Loto-Québec.[207]
Postmodernism encompasses a variety of approaches and movements, includingaesthetics. In the early 2000s,Arthur Asa Berger noted how it was popular in academic circles discussing her within postmodernism and further explains that a "simple way" of thinking about postmodernism is the way in which "our contemporary artists and culture produce art".[208]
She has been estimated both immediately and retrospectively. Some, including author Shara Rambarran in 2021, labeled her both icon and "Queen of Postmodernism".[209] In the 1990s, American philosopherSusan Bordo described her as a "postmodern heroine".[210] In 2007, O'Brien held that "much has been made of Madonna as a postmodern icon", as well as that her reference points have been resolutelymodernist.[211] According to Glenn Ward, "Madonna has been important to postmodernism for her ability to plunder the conventions".[212] AcademicsSudhir Venkatesh and Fuat Firat described her as "representative of postmodern rebellion".[213] She epitomizes posmodernism said Olivier Sécardin fromUtrecht University.[213] In similar remarks,Graham Cray once considered her as perhaps "the most visible example", whileMartin Amis said she was "perhaps the most postmodern personage on the planet".[214]
.jpg)
Late-twentieth-century perspectives on Madonna engaged some viewers, and some from art and academic communities by discussinglow andhigh culture value in her figure and works.[216] In the early 1990s, three academics conducted a survey by college students, where Madonna was seen as "all artifice and no art" and "as emblematic of the lowest form of aesthetic culture".[217] They compared her art to being "suspicious, because unlike the works ofVincent van Gogh orHenri Matisse, it is readily available for purchase at any record or video store", implying that she did not belong to a high art tradition of selflessness.[217]
Her enormous commercial success is often held against her [...] as evidence that she prostitutes her art (and, by extension, herself).
English art criticJohn Berger noted the criticisms, commenting her work's accessibility to a mass public may have contributed to a decrease in its perceived value.[217] ScholarDouglas Kellner made the suggestion she should be interpreted in both terms, and her works by implication can be read either as works of art or analyzed as "commodities" that shrewdly exploit markets.[219] In 2013, Kriston Capps fromNew York saidJeff Koons made conspicuous consumption a concern offine art, but Madonna immortalized it with "Material Girl".[58] Italian art criticAchille Bonito Oliva describes her song as a perfect for a time when art, money and politics were "electronically entwined".[220] Citing three scholars' poll,Simon Frith stated "clearly, pushing Madonna to the bottom rungs of the pop cultural ladder makes a space at the top for pop music 'art'".[221]
Her broadcast profile as an artiste in the arts-based BBC One seriesOmnibus in 1990, divided some from art community and public of the time, and according to Walker, "letters and articles subsequently appeared in the press both for and against" her.[60]Michael Ignatieff claimed that her conception of art was false.[60] He was quoted as saying, "I certainly don't mind that she is obscene [...] What I can't stand about Madonna is that she thinks she's an artist".[214] Prior that, in 1988, professor of media artsJohn Ellis questioned the idea of having Madonna inOmnibus.[222]
Madonna's sexuality has worked both for and against her. InMadonnaland (2016),Alina Simone denotes that "her art is highly sexualized becauseshe is highly sexualized".[27] Her first book,Sex was considered anart book; but outletContemporary Art pointed out that by "bringing together arty images" the book raised interesting questions about when art is acceptable.[14] In usingreligious art, Madonna has been called aniconoclast, and has received criticism from thereligious sector.
Through her career, asDahlia Schweitzer explains in 2019, many critics have long resisted using the words "Madonna" and "artistic" in the same sentence.[223] Back in 2013, Sandra Barneda from the websiteThe Objective, observed that for many "she is far" from art.[224] Michael Love wrote forPaper magazine in 2019, that both her music and visuals "have always been interpreted as 'good' or 'bad' based on what's relevant in the moment".[225]
InOn Fashion (1994) by scholarsShari Benstock and Suzanne Ferriss, it was concluded that she challenges and "puts in question and tests one's aesthetic categories and commitments", but she can be viewed as a modernist.[226] In 1993, Walker suggested the debate she provoked afterOmnibus's episode was a perhaps "sign of its cultural significant",[60] and retrospectively recognizes her a decade later, for seemingly understands "art depends upon artifice, creation, invention, imagination and masquerade".[10] According to bookThe Connection Madonna (1993), other scholars compared how "Madonna's failure" to conform to established rules and commentary have led to her dismissal as a "serious artist" and "fueled attacks" on her.[227] In the 1990s, Robertson suggested "Madonna's art and its reception by critics and fans reflect and shape some of our culture's anxieties about identity and power inequalities".[228] During this decade, American musicologistSusan McClary was quoted questioning some of the criticisms she faced, and provided arguments in her area to "refute" some of them, explaining that the framework in which Madonna operates is somewhat different from that of theWestern art tradition, in which "feminine subjects must be destroyed", and further recognized her to "exercises control over her art".[229] In 2023, authorMary Gabriel argued to "really understand" her career, you need to understand the New York club scene that fostered her talent, as a "community that was intent on breaking taboos and boundaries" while she continues with that "sensibility".[230]
Writing forThe New York Times in 1990, music criticJon Pareles invited the audience to see her as a "continuous multi-media art project".[231] Years later, in 2002,Black Belt editor Sara Fogan mentioned she "challenges herself as an artist",[232] and by 2022, Italian academics from theUniversity of Macerata considered her an artist of a "hypertrophic system of signs and symbols bound to the worlds of spectacle, art, music, cinema and fashion".[133] Writing forThe Observer in 2023, O'Brien referred to her as "one of the most vivid, confrontational and imaginative female artists in the music industry".[233]
In 1996, music criticJ. D. Considine wrote that both Madonna and Michael Jackson redefined our notions of "artistic impact".[234] FollowingMichael Jackson's death, a panel of Argentine art journalists and critics considered her at that time as "the only universal artist left standing" of an entire era. Those critics, includingDaniel Molina,Graciela Speranza andAlicia de Arteaga explained that she is herself "a multimedia expression that condenses fashion, dance, photography, sculpture, music, video and painting".[235] She was also complimented by some fellow musicians;Kanye West commented in 2014: "Madonna, I think, is the greatest visual musical artist that we've ever had".[236] She is the "perfect example" of the visual artist once commentedFab Five Freddy.[39]Shania Twain also praised her vision of aesthetics in 2023.[237]
In the mid-2010s, Madonna classified herself as an artist and not a "pop act",[238] while during the program ofCouncil of Fashion Designers of America in 1992, she stated being a good artist "it's about taking chances" rather than being "powerful" or "rich".[239] During this decade, she was also quoted as saying: "I am my own experiment. I am my own work of art".[240] Writing forInterview in 2014, American illusionistDavid Blaine suggested that perhaps she "is herself her own greatest work of art—something so vastly influential as to be unfathomable".[17] In 1997, May considered her agesamtkunstwerk becoming a work of pop-art herself.[32] In 2008, Scottish music bloggerAlan McGee proposes that she is "post-modern art, the likes of which we will never see again".[241]
According to Stephanie Eckardt fromW in 2018, her impact and influence in the arts have been "made almost entirely behind the scenes".[242] In 2023, editor Jordan Robertson called it "a significant impact in the world of art".[243] Italian art criticFrancesco Bonami, called her thePicasso from music world.[244] Ana Monroy Yglesias from theGrammy Awards website called her theArt-pop queen.[245] In the early 1990s,Mark Bego commented she has "turning everything she touches into classic pop art".[246]
A number of publications, authors and editors have discussed how Madonna helped influence the link between art and pop stage. Some noted how she brought art from the streets into the mainstream.[242] For instance, referring to her formative years in New York, Malina Bickford fromVice commented on her influence in bringing theunderground to the mainstream.[1] Marissa G. Muller fromW magazine also noted her contribution and credited her for help bridging the worlds of pop music andfine art.[247] She also suggested that Madonna helped making collaborations withpop artists routine.[247] In this aspect, Eckardt similarly argued she pioneered the crossover between pop and art by hanging with the likes of Warhol, Basquiat or Haring.[242] Editors ofEnciclopedia Gay (2009) also recognized her footprints in different art forms, and credited her for pushing the boundaries of pop music into the art world.[248]
Regarding inspirations Madonna took from plastic artists, music journalist Ricardo Pineda in a conversation with news agencyEFE in 2019, describes her mentions and references were favorable for their legacies.[249] Her own influence has been found in somecontemporary artists; in 2015, Italian newspaperla Repubblica noted how various artists admire her.[107]Mateo Blanco, commented: "Madonna has always been a great inspiration to me".[250] American installation artistTrisha Baga has a "longstanding fascination" with her which "is often manifested in her work", according toDundee Contemporary Arts' website.[251] In 2018,Pegasus told theEvening Standard that he always listens to Madonna while working, and his works "tends to have elements of her character".[252] Madonna has been an inspiration for Spanish painterJesús Arrúe, according toSaatchi Art's website.[253] In 2014, curatorJefferson Hack dedicated an article in which she was "interpreted by contemporary artists" with portraits in art forms and their feelings about her.[254] Inside the article,Silvia Prada, described: "For me, Madonna has became even more important than anyart movement in terms of history and popular culture".[254]
Different media reports have shown her influence on other lesser-known artists, and from theunderground scene. In terms of influence, theGreek Reporter said that Greek graffiti artist George Callas has a "creative obsession" with her.[101] Brazilian visual artist, Aldo Diaz, who also collaborated with her, talked about Madonna's influence for him to the point he began to study photography, arts and became a graphic designer.[56] Most of them havedepicted Madonna.
Madonna attracted media headlines when she revealed her interest inFrida Kahlo during the late 20th-century; Kahlo was considered to be a relatively lesser-known figure on the international stage outside the arts.Andrew Morton reflected: "How many pop singers have ever heard of Frida Kahlo?".[39] In 1993, Janis Bergman-Carton published inTexas Studies in Literature and Language an article that examined how "both women have become part of standard journalistic reportage", with mutual benefit, but also reminds the "interpenetration of the domains of art and celebrityhood has a lengthy history in Western culture, dating back to the Renaissance".[255]
Some credited Madonna's significant role for developing public's interest in Kahlo. In 2005,The Daily Telegraph staffers credited her with transforming Kahlo into a "collector's darling".[256] Walker also argued that partly due to her, the Mexican painter became a posthumous celebrity not only in the domain of art history but also in popular culture.[10] In 2005, Canadian author and art historianGauvin Alexander Bailey also concurred she helped spark a "wide interest" in the artist.[257] Back in 1993, historianHayden Herrera added the mention of Madonna sets the tone for the entire piece.[258] In 1991, magazineArtes de México also referred to the importance of her in the "Fridomania cult".[259] AnthropologistNéstor García Canclini (sic) "Madonna's role in the Kahlo cult is pleasantly exciting".[100] According toEl Sol de Tampico, Madonna drew media attention toAlejandro Gómez Arias, a former Kahlo boyfriend.[260]
.png)
Madonna has been depicted by various artists around the world, including those who wereinfluenced by her. Speaking about her artistic depictions of over two decades, in 2003, Walker said: "Naturally [...] manyvisual artists have been inspired to depict Madonna".[10] The bookMadonna in Art (2004) compiled portraits and paintings by over 116 artists from 23 countries, includingAndrew Logan,Sebastian Krüger andAl Hirschfeld.[261]Madonna in Art which contains over 244 artworks and 190 pages, is noted by its author as a "tribute to Madonna and her remarkable career in art".[262]
Others depicted her multiple times. Scottish painterPeter Howson, who dedicated numerous pieces to her, commented in 2002: "She's a subject everyone is drawn to".[263][264] Scottish academicAlan Riach, noted the Madonnas of Howson address the question of "assertion, strength and power".[265] In his final years, Mexican painterAlberto Gironella devoted almost all his works to Madonna, or took inspiration from her, further labeled her "more than pop [she] is the lastsurrealist".[266] According to theMuseum of Contemporary Art of Monterrey he started with his Madonnas in 1991.[267]Jean-Michel Basquiat'sA Panel of Experts (1982) was inspired by his lovers, Madonna and Canadian painterSuzanne Mallouk.[268]
In 2019, Spanish plastic artistMikel Belascoain, created the firstart building of Pamplona, capital city of Navarra, Spain with several paintings of her, calling the artworkMadonna 1986. Belascoain reported to be more interested in Madonna as an artist than inMarcel Duchamp.[269] In 2005, South African artistCandice Breitz createdQueen (Portrait of Madonna), a multichannel video installation featuring 24 ItalianMadonna fans performing their way individually on a grid of monitors. It was exhibited in museums likeSCAD Museum of Art orMuseum of Fine Arts (Boston), while art criticRoberta Smith reviewed the artwork forThe New York Times.[270] InMadonnaland (2016),Alina Simone noted graffiti artistAdam Cost had begunwheat pasting his "Cost Fucked Madonna" mantra all over Manhattan in the 20th century. Simone discovered that "Cost" was hispseudonym, and his stickers reading "Cost Fucked Madonna" became an underground catch-phrase in the 1990s, "spurring a healthy trade" in knock-off T-shirts and other merchandise. Following his comeback after his arrest, "Cost Fucked Madonna" posters began reappearing on the streets of New York in 2012.[27] On October 25, 2024 British singerBoy George painted Madonna as part of a series of artworks titled "Fame" with Castle Fine Art. It depict Madonna wearing an eyepatch, which was the signature piece to herMadame X album era. The picture resembles her look from theCrave music video.[271]
.PNG)
Her likeness has been exhibited in museums,[272] and other exhibitions. In honor of Madonna,Johnnie Walker organized the art expositionArte urbana – Projeto Keep Walking Brazil in 2012. It featured works by 30 different graffiti artists.[273] The same year, a Colombian art exhibition was presented atEAFIT University's arts centre, under the titleComo una oración (in English:Like a Prayer), to show the Madonnas of pop artist Javier Restrepo, and demonstrating how "Madonna's universality" touched the plastic arts.[274][275]
In 2013, theGuayaquil Municipal Museum hosted a multidisciplinary exhibition, titledMadonna: Ícono cultural-arte, moda y filatelia exploring her impact and references in art, fashion,philately andnumismatics.[276] In 2017, Lea & Flò Palace hosted the Italian contemporary art exhibitionThank you Madonna – I miei sogni in technicolors.[277] In 2023-2024, theCanberra Museum and Gallery hosted theMadonna 40: A Celebration, a career retrospective,[278] including screening of filmDesperately Seeking Susan.[279]
Madonna was included in other different thematic exhibitions. She had a special segment inAlberto Gironella's retrospective of 2004,Alberto Gironella. Barón de Betenebros (Palace of Fine Arts), and in his 1994 display,Más que pop, Madonna es la única surrealista.[280] In 2014,M- de Marilyn à Madonna was on display in Brazil to commemorateMarilyn Monroe's death and Madonna's birthday, both of which occurred in the month of August. It featured 46 artworks of different artists.[281] Madonna was part of the exhibitionDe Madonna a Madonna (in English:From Madonna to Madonna) installed in countries such as Chile (Centro Cultural Matucana 100), Spain (MUSAC) and Argentina (Juan B. Castagnino Fine Arts Museum) to approach therole of women throughout history.[282]
Around 1988, in the town ofPacentro, Italy (the city of her paternal grandparents) some residents proposed putting up a 13-foot statue of a bustier-wearing Madonna, hoping as much to attract tourists as to bestow honorary citizenship on its "most famous descendant", but the proposal was vetoed by the mayor and others.[283] The Italian sculptor Walter Pugni, who planned to erect the bronze statue, showed a 2-foot clay model to the media.[284] In 1993, Brazilian plastic artist Nico Rocha, created a 2.3-foot statue of her to commemorate her 10-year career and her first visit to Brazil.[285]
She is represented throughvariouswax sculptures internationally, including France'sMusée Grévin.[286] Several wax figures of Madonna are found atMadame Tussauds in the U.S. and around the world.[287] In 1999, Estonian outletSõnumileht ranked a Madonna's wax figure at number third, on their best-of list of Tussauds' wax sculptures.[288] In the mid-2010s,Madame Tussauds Sydney launched simultaneously three different Madonna's wax statues, making the first time they revealed that amount of one female performer in their history according to themselves.[289]
.jpg)
.jpg)
| Studio albums | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack albums | |
| Live albums | |
| Compilation albums | |
| Limited releases | |
| Video releases | |
| Concerts and tours | |
| Films directed | |
| Documentaries | |
| Television | |
| Books authored | |
| Companies and brands | |
| Works about Madonna |
|
| Public image | |
| Related articles | |
_(cropped).jpg)
.jpg)
