MoMA Partners with Mattel for Van Gogh Barbie, Monet and Dalí Figures

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has announced a multiyear partnership with the toy company Mattel Inc.

As part of the partnership, MoMA will release a capsule collection on November 11, just in time for the holiday season. It features seven products inspired by the artists and art in the museum’s permanent collection that will be sold at MoMA’s Design Stores in New York and Japan, as well as on the Design Store’s website and the Mattel Creations website.

Those products include a Barbie doll wearing an evening gown printed with Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night (1889); a Magic Eight Ball featuring a detail of a ca. 1968 Alma Woodsey Thomas abstraction; two Hot Wheels replicas of two cars from the museum’s design holdings, the Jaguar E-Type Roadster and the Citroën DS 23 Sedan; figurines of Salvador Dalí and Claude Monet by Little People Collector; and an Uno deck featuring six works from MoMA’s collection, including pieces by van Gogh, Monet, and Matisse.

The partnership will also see Mattel provide funding in support of MoMA’s Samuel and Ronnie Heyman Family Art Lab, an interactive space for kids and families on the museum’s first floor.

In a statement, Mattel’s senior vice president of entertainment partnerships, Nick Karamanos, said the company is currently reimagining its brands, which also include Fisher Price, American Girl, Thomas & Friends, and Barney, “as collectible, design-led experiences. Partnering with MoMA enables us to translate some of the world’s most iconic artworks and artists into amazing expressions of culture, design, and storytelling that will resonate with collectors and fans for years to come.”

MoMA chief retail officer Jesse Goldstine added, “By joining forces with Mattel Creations, we are inviting a generation of new audiences to experience the Museum’s collection in ways that merge contemporary art with creative play and design innovation and allow them to spend time with artworks from the collection in new and interactive ways.”

See details of each capsule collection item below.

Barbie® x Vincent van Gogh 

This Barbie wears a gown inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night (1889), which the museum acquired in 1941 via the Lillie P. Bliss bequest. It is currently on view in Gallery 501 on the MoMA’s fifth floor.

Little People Collector™ x Claude Monet 

These two Little People Collector figurines are inspired by Impressionist painter Claude Monet, who was known for his full white beard. One of them wears an outfit inspired by his famed “water lilies” works. Behind them is Monet’s nearly 42-foot-long Water Lilies (1914–26), which the museum purchased in 1959. It is on permanent view in a specially designed room, Gallery 515, on the fifth floor.

Little People Collector™ x Salvador Dalí 

These two Little People Collector figurines are inspired by Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí, who was known for his curled black mustache. One of them wears an outfit inspired by his famed painting The Persistence of Memory (1931), which the museum acquired in 1934 via an anonymous gift. It is currently on view in Gallery 522 on the fifth floor.

UNO® Canvas x MoMA 

Magic 8 Ball® x Alma Woodsey Thomas 

This Magic 8 Ball, which includes phrases like “Color Is Life!,” is inspired by Alma Woodsey Thomas’s Untitled (ca. 1968), an abstract work on paper that MoMA acquired in 2015 via a gift from late collector Donald B. Marron. The work is currently not on view; the only time it has been exhibited was in 2017 as part of the exhibition “Making Space: Women Artists and Postwar Abstraction.”

Hot Wheels® x Citroën DS 23 Sedan 

This Hot Wheels replica is inspired by the Citroën DS 23 Sedan, which was designed between 1954 and 1967; the MoMA version is from 1973 and was acquired in 2018 for its architecture and design department. It is not currently on view and was last shown in the museum’s sculpture garden as part of the 2021 exhibition “Automania.”

Hot Wheels® x Jaguar E-Type Roadster 

This Hot Wheels replica is inspired by the Jaguar E-Type Roadster, which was designed in 1961; MoMA’s version is from 1963. The museum acquired it in 1996 as a gift from Jaguar Cars and it was last shown in the 2021 exhibition “Automania.”