52 Songs That Are a Work of Art

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By Marissa Cetin2013-08-20 00:16:48 UTC

Lady Gaga premiered "Applause" Monday, the first single off of her fourth studio album, ARTPOP, due out in November. With an artsy music video, Lady Gaga heightens the connection between music and museums — art for your ears and art for your eyes.

This week's Music Monday tours the gallery of music inspired by artists, famous paintings and the world of art at large. Joni Michell's 1994 album, Turbulent Indigo, is inspired by Vincent van Gogh and the album art features Mitchell's self-portrait in the painter's legendary style.

Jay Z's "Picasso Baby" makes the playlist for its constant artist name-dropping (It ain't hard to tell, I'm the new Jean Michel / Surrounded by Warhols, my whole team ball"), as well as the rapper's six-hour Pace Gallery stint, a performance art piece that became a 10-minute theatrical music video for the track.

David Bowie pops up in the playlist multiple times for the aptly named "Art Decade," "Andy Warhol" and "Joe the Lion," which is a tribute to performance artist Chris Burden.

Also making the playlist more than once is avant-pop musician Julia Holter. All three of her albums are inspired by works of art: 2011's Tradegy musically re-imagines Euripides' play Hippolytus and features dialogue; 2012's Ekstasis also pulls from ancient Greek culture and art, with "Goddess Eyes I & II" sung from the perspective of garden statues ("I can see you but my eyes are not allowed to cry"); and her most recent album Loud City Song, out Aug. 20 in the U.S., is creatively inspired by the 1958 MGM musical film Gigi. Holter takes her love for art a step further with the video for "Goddess Eyes I," directed by Jose Wolff, which zooms in and out of life inside a painting.

Though R&B pop musician Autre Ne Veut's songs don't explicitly reference art, the album art for his Anxiety does. Originally, the record cover was supposed to recreate the image of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" at the Sotheby auction. The image of the painting was eventually removed from the album art due to suspected legal issues.

Is this playlist missing your favorite art-inspired song? Let us know by sharing it with us in the comments below — or share it with us on Spotify, and we'll add it to the playlist.

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Image: Flickr, Ana Carina Lauriano

Topics: art, community, Entertainment, inspiration, Music, Music Monday, playlist, spotify