Mattel Releases New Fine Art Dolls. The DaVinci, Van Gogh & Klimt Barbies.

Recently introduced at this year's Toy Fair were three new Barbie dolls by Mattel that pay homage to some of the world's most famous artists. 14th century Master Leonardo Da Vinci, Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh and Art Nouveau painter Gustav Klimt have been immortalized as soon to be released Barbies. The dolls clothing, make up, hair styles and jewelry are inspired by Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Van Gogh's Starry Night and Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.

Not yet in the stores, the dolls are available for pre-order at the links below.

The Da Vinci Barbie


above: Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, painted from 15o3-1507



Pre-order the Da Vinci Barbie Doll here

The Klimt Barbie:


above: Gustav Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, completed in 1907




Pre-order the Klimt Barbie Doll here

The Van Gogh Barbie:


above: Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, painted in 1887



Pre-order the Van Gogh Barbie Doll here.

special thanks to Carolynn R. Whitford and Michael Williams for the above images


Also available for pre-order are the following soon to be released Barbies for 2011:

The Farrah Fawcett Barbie Doll

The Grace Kelly Barbie Doll

The Rock Hudson & Doris Day Barbie Dolls Giftset

The Frank Sinatra Barbie Doll

World's Most Expensive Barbie Unveiled: Over Half Million Dollar Canturi Barbie

The Worlds Most Expensive Barbie

To coincide with the launch of the Barbie® Basics™ Collection in Australia, Mattel has engaged internationally celebrated jewelry designer Stefano Canturi to create a world first, the rarest and most expensive Barbie ever made. Price? $545,000. USD



Valued at over $AUD600,000 and featuring a rare Australian pink diamonds, Stefano has created the ultimate accessories for Barbie in his signature Cubism style.

Barbie is decorated with a stunning Canturi neckpiece made up of 3.00 carats of white diamonds surrounding a collectible 1.00ct square emerald (cut) pink diamond:



A diamond Cubism ring sparkling on her right hand completes the jewelry set:


The pink diamond was especially hand-picked for & inspired by Barbie and is a registered tendered stone from the Australian Argyle mine. The 1.00ct square emerald (cut) diamond, notable for its distinctive purplish pink hue, is a rare and unique collector’s item, and it is substantially more valuable than its white diamond equivalent. A style icon such as Barbie commands a rare, unique pink diamond such as this one.


above: Stefano Canturi with his special Barbie

Having personally created history making jewels for Academy Award winning films and many of the worlds most influential women, its only natural that Canturi should apply his meticulous attention to detail to creating a piece that marries Barbie’s confidence and feminine style, and his timeless Cubism jewelry.




Stefano states… "Barbie is iconic and so I didn't just want to cover her with diamonds, I wanted the jewelry design to pay homage to her modern yet timeless style, this is why I applied my Cubism design concept to her look; it is perfect for her.”



above: Jewellery designer Stefano Canturi and Mattel Principle designer Robert Best pose with the world's most expensive Barbie doll at the Barbie Basics Collection Launch during Rosemount Australian Fashion Week Spring in Sydney, Australia. ( Photo by Robert Gray/Getty Images AsiaPac)

“With the launch of the Barbie Basics collection here in Australia we wanted to give the launch a unique Australian perspective, so we engaged Stefano Canturi to design the ultimate accessories for Barbie, an Australian pink diamond jewelry suite. Stefano’s signature style fits perfectly with the Barbie brand… modern, yet timeless…" Kate Carroll, Brand Manager — Barbie, Mattel Australia.

all images courtesy of Stefano Canturi and Mattel®

Be sure to check out this post that shows each of the barbie Basics glammed up by famous fashion designers

12 Barbie Basics Get Glammed Up By Designers For Launch & Auction.

above: Barbie Basic model no.5 before and after being styled by Justin Guinta for the launch

Mattel recently introduced the Barbie Basics doll collection; 12 different Barbie® dolls, each dressed 'down' in a different, but all black, dress. Simply named model no.1, model no.2 and so on, the hair, skin, eye color, features and stances vary with each doll. You can then purchase "look" sets that include accessories for the dolls.




To launch this new collection, Mattel had 12 top CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America) fashion and accessory designers dress the dolls in their own inimitable style, as in model no. 8 shown below left and then as styled by Alexis Bittar, below right.



The styled, dressed and accessorized dolls will then be auctioned on ebay with proceeds benefiting the CFDA. The auction goes live on January 28 (tomorrow) at 10pm EST and runs through February 7. To bid, visit the ebay auction here.



Below are close-ups of the 12 new Barbie Basics dolls (as sold) followed by the designer dressed versions for the launch:

model no.1 and model no.2:

model no.3 and model no.4:

model no.5 and model no.6:

model no 7 and model no.8:

model no.9 and model no.10:

model no.11 and model no.12:

above images of Barbie basics courtesy of Barbie Collector

Thanks to Glam and the blog GlamChic , I can show you images of all of the 12 Mattel Barbie Basics Dolls dressed by the designers for the ebay auction.

Isaac Mizrahi dolls up model no. 1 and Monica Botkier dolls up model no.2:


Deborah Lloyd of Kate Spade dolls up model no.3 and Philip Crangi dolls up model no.4:


Justin Guinta dolls up model no.5 and Albertus Swanepoel dolls up model no.6:


Lorraine Schwartz dolls up model no.7 and Alexis Bittar dolls up model no.8:


Betsey Johnson dolls up model no.9 and Rachel Roy dolls up model no.10:


Devi Kroell dolls up model no.11 and Tory Burch dolls up model no.12:

Shop the Barbie Basics Doll collection here.
Sign up for the ebay auction here.