As tickets for the Celebration Tour sell out, social media raises the curious request of the mayor of Amiens to the artist
The first round of ticket sales for Madonna’s tour opened today. For those who absolutely do not want to miss the Milan concert on November 23, the only Italian date, there are still two chances left to play on January 19 and 20, and under two conditions: be quick and be willing to spend.
That’s right because “pop” is definitely not the price to pay to attend the show of the one who has made herself queen of pop: it starts at 46 euros for “limited viewing” seats and exceeds 350 euros for the first numbered sector, excluding commissions. Socialites clamor: “Hallucinating costs.” Someone appeals to friends, “Anticipate my birthday present,” someone breaks the piggy bank, another asks, “How do you get rich in two days?” and eventually tickets sell out fast.
Madonna’s people have been waiting eight years for her return to Italian soil, and this is an occasion not to be missed as the title, Celebration Tour, promises, referring back to the artist’s fourth collection, the first to collect her greatest hits record, dated 2009 (and therefore to be updated on stage).
So, from Holiday to Like a Virgin, from Material Girl to Isla Bonita, and again Like a Prayer, Vogue, Music, Frozen, Papa don’t preach, Celebration and so on in a list that could go on and on. While waiting for the first rumors about the setlist to leak out, she lets it be known that she is “excited to explore as many songs as possible in hopes of giving my fans the show they’ve been waiting for,” and posts an iconic video that has already gone viral and winks at her groundbreaking film ‘Truth or Dare.
The video features such illustrious names as Diplo, Judd Apatow, Jack Black, Lil Wayne, Bob The Drag Queen, Kate Berlant, Larry Owens, Meg Stalter, Eric Andre and concludes with Amy Schumer challenging the global superstar to go on tour and perform the hits churned out in four decades of relentless creativity. To which will be added the song ‘Back that Up to the Beat’.
Madonna, the icon on the cover
In the midst of creative ferment, Madonna doesn’t stop touring: in a series of magnificent photo shoots by Luigi & Iango, she plays with Vanity Fair on the concept of “icon,” an oft-used word used to describe her. She is the (first) protagonist of “The Icon issue,” an annual initiative that includes a short movie, a collaboration between fashion, art and design, an urban art performance and an exhibition (in September at Palazzo Reale in Milan), launched by the magazine, to which she tells her story.
She talks about feminism, sexuality, religion and diversity, emphasizing her ongoing battles against patriarchy and acknowledging the price she has had to pay over the years to defend her beliefs.
She tells about her upbringing in a Catholic family, her current spiritual approach, which is more mystical than dogmatic, the importance of her family life, and seeing her children grow up expressing their talents and creativity. Finally he reveals that among his plans is a biographical film of his own: “I am about to create a new show. And I have been working for several years on a script for a film about my life. It’s a good time because I’m gathering ideas, getting inspired, hanging out with creative people, watching lots of movies, listening to music.”
The “missing” painting
Today, however, Madonna is also being talked about for another story concerning the small French city of Amiens, just over 130,000 inhabitants. Calling out the pop star directly is the mayor Brigitte Fouré, who, in a video posted on social media, addresses her thus:
“Madonna, you probably don’t know Amiens. But in recent days a special bond has developed between you and our French city. I address my appeal to you to lend the city of Amiens a hitherto missing work!”
According to an investigation by the Parisian newspaper “Le Figaro,” Madonna had unknowingly purchased in 1989 at a Sotheby’s auction in New York for 1.3 million euros the painting “Diana and Endymion” (circa 1822) by the painter Jérôme-Martin Langlois (1779-1838), an exponent of neoclassicism. So much had been lost track of the painting that it was even speculated to have been destroyed in the bombing of the Amiens Museum of Fine Arts in 1918.
However, in 2015, again according to “Le Figaro,” a researcher from Amiens spotted the painting in a “Paris Match” photo shoot at a Madonna villa. Following this discovery, the Amiens Museum filed a complaint against unknown persons for the theft of the painting.
Since then, the case has not developed, but now the mayor with textbook timing, given the announcement of the tour, is asking for the work on loan in view of Amiens’ candidacy as European Capital of Culture in 2028.
Depicting a scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, the painting was exhibited and entered the collections of Louis XVIII before being purchased by the state in 1873, which deposited it five years later in the Amiens museum from which it has since disappeared for unknown reasons.
The work auctioned at Sotheby’s had not been recognized as the Langlois painting. According to the sales catalog, the size of the canvas, 317.50 cm × 210.82 cm, was three centimeters smaller in height than the Amiens painting; it also lacked a signature and date.
Estimated at between $300,000 and $400,000, the painting was considered an “old copy, possibly autographed,” according to the Louvre, cited by “Le Figaro,” and was eventually purchased for $1.3 million by Madonna to add it to her impressive collection, which already includes Pablo Picasso, Tamara de Lempicka, Frida Kahlo, Salvador Dali, Fernand Léger and Jean-Michel Basquiat.