PARIS.- Agnès b. and the Louvre are collaborating this autumn to launch a unique collection of clothing and accessories inspired by museum works that shaped the famous designer's aesthetic. She has immersed herself in the light and poetry of two landscapes by Claude Gellée, known as Claude Lorrain (1600–1682), seeking to put them 'into clothing' and 'into motion'.

Agnès b. often uses garments as a medium for her photographs, which she shoots specifically to be applied as an all-over print on a particular textile. In this way photoprints, as a link between art and clothing, become an invitation to contemplation for the designer, who discovered the Musée du Louvre when she was eleven. Captivated by Titian's Man with a Glove and his gaze beyond the frame, she dreamed of being a museum curator.

'These are trippy landscapes, open to the sea, to the beyond, to otherness. Lorrain's opening up these amazing landscapes is what I really enjoy.' -- Agnès b.

For this new collection Agnès b. chose two works by the French classicist painter Claude Lorrain, famous for his imaginary landscapes inspired by the Roman countryside and classical mythology. She also pays tribute to the work of an artist who made light a central theme of his studies and influenced some of the greatest names in art history, from Turner to the Impressionists. Seaport at Sunset and Landscape with Shepherd are a complementary pair of paintings: azure sky and ruddy peaks; a river winding towards the depths of a valleyed landscape and a seaport where ships meet the horizon. Ever fascinated by sea and oceans, but also by the promise of the beyond, Agnès b. saw in them her own creative spirit, cultivating a waft of reverie, a sense of depth, a touch of mystery and a harmonious balance.

Printed on garments, scarves and leather accessories and meant to be worn, painting becomes a mobile pattern. A way of animating works from the inside and recovering their ability to thrill and transport the gaze. Warm colours meet cool colours, the past meets the present, for a timeless collection inspired by the great pictorial worlds that have nourished our imaginations.

Collection available in agnès b. stores in France and worldwide, at the Musée du Louvre store, and on agnèsb.com