Which childhood fascination would you revisit today?

Jocelyne Grivaud has recreated Barbie as Venus de Milo, Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, and Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, among other pieces. (Jocelyne Grivaud/barbiemuse.com)

Barbie made her debut at an American toy fair in 1959, and since then Mattel's most iconic doll has been dressed up as everything from a teacher to an astronaut.

French artist and Barbie enthusiast Jocelyne Grivaud wasn't satisfied with expected careers though, and mused about what else Barbie could be.

Using the doll as her canvas, Grivaud began to recreate the visions of great artists.

Barbie soon became Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, and Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, to name a few pieces.

"Barbie is often criticized for being too blonde, too superficial, too skinny, too 'ideal marketing', too 'this' and too 'that,'" said Grivaud, whose affection for the doll began when she received her first Barbie in 1967.

Years later, she yearned to revisit her childhood fascination. "My aim was to adjust this so famous profile to different emblematic representations," explained Grivaud on her project's website.

Grivaud said the beloved and often beleaguered doll enraptured her throughout her early years, and the Barbie project helped her revisit the happiness of her childhood.

What was your favourite toy or activity as a child? What made it special to you? Would it be possible for you to make that childhood fascination a part of your adult life?


(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)

And since we're on the theme of going back in time with Barbie, here is a CBC clip from the doll's 25th anniversary in 1984. Take 30 host Harry Brown sits down with a 10-year-old Barbie collector to talk about the doll's lasting appeal.



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