Beyoncé and Jay-Z Star in Tiffany & Co. Campaign Featuring Never-Before-Seen Basquiat Painting

The new campaign, which features both print and video elements, sees the inclusion of a previously never-before-seen painting from the late Basquiat.

August 23, 2021

A new campaign from Tiffany & Co. marks a number of firsts, including the inaugural instance of Beyoncé and Jay-Z appearing alongside one another for a creative endeavor of this variety.

The campaign in question, boasting photos by Mason Poole, also stands as the first time the Tiffany Diamond has been featured in a campaign. But it’s the presence of a never-before-seen Basquiat piece, as Miles Socha reported for Women’s Wear Daily early Monday, that’s steering the chatter.

“We don’t have any literature that says he made the painting for Tiffany,” Alexandre Arnault, the executive VP of products and communications at Tiffany, said of the late artist’s 1982-dated “Equals Pi” painting. “But we know a little bit about Basquiat. We know his family. We did an exhibition of his work at the Louis Vuitton Foundation a few years back. We know he loved New York, and that he loved luxury and he loved jewelry. My guess is that the [blue painting] is not by chance. The color is so specific that it has to be some kind of homage.”

The “About Love” campaign is complemented by a video element, complete with take on “Moon River” and some Jay-captured Super 8 footage. For a film element likened to “a music video,” the two enlisted Emmanuel Adjei, whose previous credits include Beyoncé’s Black Is King project.

The print side of the campaign will first launch in early September in the U.K. An accompanying video element, meanwhile, is set to debut on Sept. 15 via the official Tiffany site and a selection of in-person locales. Takeover-style displays are also slated for later this year in Times Square, among other locations.

The partnership between the Tiffany brand and the Carters also includes a commitment from the former of $2 million toward scholarships and other programs focused on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

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Meanwhile, Beyoncé recently updated fans on the status of new music, as well as debuted a new visual in support of the latest Ivy Park collection. Revisit both here and here, respectively.