Art Direction: When Art History and Marketing Meet
The role of an art director (or AD) is often misunderstood—part strategist, part curator, part storyteller. But at the heart of it lies something even more elusive: the ability to build a universe. For me, that skill comes directly from art history.
Marketing and art history might seem like unlikely companions. Yet they share a powerful language: one made of symbols, colour, composition, and emotion. That’s where the magic happens.
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As a child, I spent hours leafing through illustrated encyclopedias. I observed each drawing, each thematic world, and I dissected them to better understand them.
My favorite page in the 1991 edition of the Petit Larousse illustré was the one showing costumes from Antiquity to the 20th century. I was fascinated by this world of styles and codes that changed with each era. It was probably this curiosity that later led me to study art history.
The history of costumes, Larousse Illustré
Visual Storytelling
During my studies in Arts and Museology, my internship at the Musée de l’Orangerie in Paris and my master’s seminars at the École du Louvre, I discovered the codes specific to eras, artistic movements, and social context, which are expressed through clothing, image composition, colour palette, posture, or even the treatment of light, blurriness, and texture. I learned to recognize the symbolism behind a Renaissance symmetry or a Caravaggio chiaroscuro, the way visual choices reflect the spirit of their time. Every brushstroke, every posture, every ray of light is part of a story.
These visual references trigger an instinctive reading of the image: they allow us, often without realizing it, to grasp its intention, to feel its emotion, and to place it within a larger story. Even without having studied art history, we’ve all been exposed to these codes through museums, books, films, or advertising campaigns; they are part of our collective memory. Each visual element tells a story of an era, an idea, a vision of the world in its own way. Everything is connected.
I quickly branched out from art into the world of communications, event planning, and marketing. But even today, when I’m behind the camera with our team of photographers and videographers, I refer to this “image library” as my guide. It’s what guides the choice of a pose, the intensity of a shadow, the colour palette in post-production.
the Ecstasy of Saint Francis, Caravaggio, 1597, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
I like to build images that speak for themselves and brands that tell a story, just as I would when staging a museum exhibition. It’s no coincidence that the agency is called Storyline. The goal is always to create a coherent visual storytelling, to place each brand at the heart of a recognizable universe.
Creating “Hero Shots” Inspired by the Great Masters
For the new Bohem skincare line’s recent photoshoot, we wanted the brand to evoke both strength and femininity. The chosen muses embody this well.
I found a red floral robe that wasn’t in the stylist’s wardrobe, but rather in the client’s. The movement of the satin and the printed pattern helped to support what I was trying to create visually.
the Soul of the Rose, John William Waterhouse, 1908, Private Collection
I was alongside Philippe Mahn Nguyen, our photographer on the shoot, when Robert Desroches from Davai directed my colleague Laury-Ann Dufour (one of the Bohem muses) to lie down on the rocks of the Ouareau River. The satin moved with the wind. Laury-Ann lay on the rocks, her dress blooming around her like a crimson flower.
For a moment, we weren’t shooting a brand. We were capturing a myth.
The Pre-Raphaelite softness, the river’s quiet current, the robe’s floral pattern, all came together. Millais’s Ophelia came to life before our eyes. We knew instantly: this was our hero shot.
Ophelia, John Everett Millais, 1851-52, Tate Britain, London
There was also Annie Sama, posing like a romantic heroine in her long reddish-brown dress found by stylist Isabelle Gauvin, who did a remarkable job of choosing her clothes. Annie moves so well in front of the camera, so we made the most of it.
My role is to enhance moments that are already magical: adjusting the pose, directing… It’s a close collaboration with the photographers who possess all the technical knowledge that I don’t.
EngravingAcademic from the 19th Century, Depicting a Female Figure in Motion (an Allegory of Dance or a Nymph)
From Ancient Greece to Today
On another shot, I saw a scene that remind me of Artemis emerge. The clothing, makeup, and hair selected by Isabelle all helped tell this story. Annie Sama, by the water: a modern incarnation of the Greek goddess of nature and hunting in her element. Everything in this scene, —the clothing, the golden light of the late afternoon sun, the wild nature setting,—testifies to the brand’s ancestral heritage and Greek origins.
Diana, the Huntress (or Artemis) Guillaume Seignac, 19th Century, Unknown Collection.
Again, everything is connected. You just have to know how to subtly connect the dots between art, history, and today’s brands.
The past doesn’t vanish; it echoes.
When we honour it with intention, today’s brands can speak in timeless tones.
