The Carters, “Apeshit” Music Video (2018)
Beyoncé and Jay-Z—or the Carters, as they stylize themselves for their 2018 album Everything is Love—rented the Louvre to film the music video for their single “Apeshit,” released June 16, 2018. The video features the couple and other dancers performing choreography and lip-synching in front of some of the iconic pieces in the museum, including Ary Sheffer’s Les Ombres de Francesca da Rimini et de Paolo Malatesta apparaissent à Dante et à Virgile (1835), which is re-enacted by two Black actors. Gea Bozzi, writing for Duke Form, offers this analysis:
“In one of the shots, a black couple kissing and holding one another is juxtaposed with a painting of Francesca and Paolo from Dante’s Inferno. While in the painting the woman is clinging onto the man in despair, in the contemporary scene the woman is cradling and comforting the man as he gently rests his face on her chest. The ‘real’ moment of intimacy ignites a much more significant response, as viewers are left wondering about their struggles, their lives, and their circumstances.” —Gea Bozzi, “Apesh*t by the Carters,” Duke Form
For more on the video and its depiction of Paolo and Francesca, see Pietro Cagni, “Paolo e Francesca ‘going apes**t,'” in the journal Arabeschi.
Sighting Citation:
“The Carters, “Apeshit” Music Video (2018).” Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Elizabeth Coggeshall and Arielle Saiber, eds. October 13, 2025. https://www.dantetoday.org/sightings/the-carters-apeshit-music-video-2018/.