L'Oreal Group and the Louvre collaborate on exploratory viewing program

5 Jan 2025

L'Oreal Group and the Louvre have partnered for the first time to collaborate on an exploratory appreciation program that will cover the entire museum. Titled "In Every Beauty," the program explores beauty in art and history spanning more than 10,000 years through 108 carefully selected works. A dedicated web app that can be accessed via a QR code allows visitors to explore the program not only in the museum but also after they leave.

The program was made possible through a collaboration between the Louvre and the L'Oreal Group's Arts, Culture & Heritage department. The aim of the program is to share with as many people as possible the stories of beauty from all eras, from prehistoric times to the future, and to question appearance and beauty through the discovery of beautiful gestures, rituals and customs, as well as the discovery of standardized and idealized forms of beauty. By focusing on the theme of beauty, which is also a hot topic on social media, "it is possible to reach young people who do not naturally visit museums, and reexamining beauty is also about opening one's mind to the diversity and evolution of our society and culture as a whole" (Gautier Verbeke, Director of Audience Development and Mediation at the Louvre). L'Oreal was in charge of selecting the works.

"The result of the collaboration between the Louvre and L'Oreal is a selection of works that are in line with the theme of travel, telling the story of the history of beauty, its universal elements and especially its diversity. The selection was made from three further perspectives: first, cosmetic practices and objects, second, the beauty norms of each civilization and third, the link between beauty and society. And because beauty and art are about emotions, we also depended on intuition," said Delphine Julbach, Director of Arts, Culture and Heritage at the L'Oreal Group.

The web app includes text and audio guides explaining the artworks. "What's particularly noteworthy is the audio content, which is told in the first person. The artworks and objects themselves become the narrators, making the key to understanding extremely accessible," says Verbeke. The artworks and exhibits speak in the first person, as if they were alive. For example, in the display corner for the cosmetics that Nefatiabet loved so much that she took them to the afterlife, her own voice tells the story. Visitors can also enjoy the exhibition from various perspectives, such as reflecting on the ideal of beauty in ancient Greece through the Mercure Richelieu statue, or delving into the concept of gender by facing the "Sleeping Hermaphroditos" statue.

Laurent des Calles, director of the Louvre, said: "This unique exploration program, born out of dialogue with the people of L'Oréal, will enable visitors to explore the Louvre's collection from new and unprecedented perspectives. We have designed a journey that highlights the incredible diversity of beauty that transcends time and culture. This playful, accessible approach to artworks is a new way of sharing and making the Louvre's aesthetic heritage more widely available to more people, reinforcing the Louvre's role as a school for the training of vision."