Rethinking the Image

Image source: https://50ansdepubs.com/Pubs/pub.php?p=Automobile/Citroen/2177 (Accessed: 20 September 2025). © Citroën

This French-language press advertisement by Citroën, the French car manufacturer, appeared in 1991^[1] to promote its flagship XM model. Launched two years earlier, the XM was notable for its striking, avant-garde design, which came as a result of Citroën’s partnership with famed Italian design house, Bertone^[2].

In this advertisement, the car is juxtaposed with a modern abstract sculpture which sits on a raised plinth, with both objects illuminated by a soft, gentle light and positioned against a dark blue backdrop. This backdrop has a sumptuous texture, reminiscent of crushed velvet, complementing both the sculpture’s radiant metallic gold surface and the car’s gleaming black paint.

The luxurious feelings generated by the image’s textures and colours are leveraged in its tagline, which roughly translates as ‘You could own a work of art for less than 125,000 Francs’^[3], suggesting that the car functions successfully as an aesthetic object as well as a machine. With this suggestion, ideas of sophistication and refinement that are frequently attached to fine art are also applied to the product.

Below this juxtaposition is a caption which compares the monetary value of the sculpture to the price of the car. This consciously irrelevant detail brings an element of humour to the advertisement – perhaps necessary given its somewhat immodest message. Underneath this caption, there is a sub-caption which confirms the sculpture as the work of mononymous French-born artist, Arman^[4].

The refined, cultivated aesthetic of the image continues in the appearance and arrangement of its accompanying text. From a typographic perspective, its classical serif font is consistent with the image’s tagline and captions, while the use of columns and paragraph indents, with the corporate double chevron^[5] substituting for a traditional drop capital, enforces a sense of authority.

In terms of its content, the text reinforces the message of the image above it by adopting the tone and language of an art exhibition catalogue, describing the car as a ‘masterpiece of contemporary art’ which possesses a ‘sensation of light and space’ and a ‘formal beauty’. In addition, it refers to the consumer as the ‘viewer’, rather than the ‘driver’ or ‘owner’, once again placing emphasis on the idea of the car as an object of visual pleasure.

This advertisement also demonstrates a strong awareness of its domestic audience. On a visual level, it appeals to the French tradition of fine art, and on a rhetorical level, the transformation of the car into a coveted object appeals to the French appetite for domestically produced luxury products, which was growing significantly at the time of its publication^[6].

[1] This advertisement appeared in issue 2177 of the Paris Match magazine, as per the link at the top of this article.

[2] Berg, N. (2021) BMW’s XM Wasn’t the First – or the Most Extraordinary. Available at: https://www.hagerty.co.uk/articles/automotive-history/bmws-xm-wasnt-the-first-or-the-most-extraordinary/ (Accessed: 20 September 2025).

[3] The term objet de valeur can refer to any ‘coveted object’ whose function is primarily ornamental, such as a piece of jewellery or antique furniture, but in this case, ‘work of art’ is a more appropriate translation.

[4] MoMA (no date) Arman. Available at: https://www.moma.org/artists/220 (Accessed: 20 September 2025).

[5] Dhouibi, H. (2022) Behind the Logo: The Origin of Citroën. Available at: https://emag.directindustry.com/2022/08/10/behind-the-logo-the-origin-of-citroen-chevron-herringbone-gear-automotive/ (Accessed: 20 September 2025).

[6] Roux, E. (2009) ‘Le luxe au temps des marques’, Géoéconomie, 49(2), pp. 19-36.