Lego Art

The product line started with the release of four 48×48 mosaics—''31197 Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe, 31198 The Beatles, 31199 Marvel Studios Iron Man, and 31200 Star Wars The Sith—in August 2020, followed by two additional ones—31201 Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests and 31202 Disney's Mickey Mouse—in January 2021. The seventh set—the largest Lego product to date, 31203 World Map—was much larger, 128 studs wide and 80 studs in height, and used 11,695 pieces to be assembled; the black frame used for the previous ones also got changed to white, showing that it was not a licensed one, unlike those. Late 2021, a 7+ one, 21226 Art Project – Create Together'', was released, with a white frame, too. In March 2022, two licensed ones, 31204 Elvis Presley "The King" and 31205 Jim Lee Batman Collection were released. The next one to launch was 31206 The Rolling Stones, capturing the iconic tongue logo of the rock band. 31207 Floral Art was released in August 2022, and was 32 studs in width and 48 studs in height. A refreshed style of Lego Art products arrived in January 2023 with 31208 Hokusai – The Great Wave, incorporating not only 1×1 elements, but also other ones, with a larger frame, too. In August 2023, two more sets, 31209 The Amazing Spider-Man and 31210 Modern Art, were released, with the latter one being completely irregular compared to other Lego Art sets. In January 2024, 31211 The Fauna Collection – Macaw Parrots launched, including two parrots and a tree branch. It was followed by 31212 The Milky Way Galaxy on May 18, 2024 and 31213 Mona Lisa on October 1, 2024, though the latter one was originally planned for a release in June 2024. On November 11, 2024, the next Lego Art set, 31214 LOVE was announced to release in January 2025, featuring a sculpture of Robert Indiana's pop art image. Starting from that, Lego Art sets are getting a refreshed packaging design which is similar to the other Adults Welcome sets, and a new logo was also introduced for the theme. On March 1, 2025, 31215 Vincent van Gogh – Sunflowers, the second set based on Vincent van Gogh's paintings, was released; two more ones, 31216 Keith Haring – Dancing Figures and 31217 The Fauna Collection – Tiger, released in May and June 2025, respectively. Most of the sets come with soundtracks that are intended to be listened to,when building the mosaics. They feature creators or experts discussing the inspiration behind each design or the subject featured in the mosaic. In 2023, Cooper Wright had set the Guinness Record completed 31203 World Map with a fastest time in 9 hours, 14 minutes and 49 seconds. == Development ==

Lego Art is a new theme from The Lego Group that forms part of a strategy to create new products to appeal to adults some of whom will never have built with Lego elements before. Model Designer Kitt Grace Kossmann explained, "we have done something with the building instructions that is different to what we are used to," and continued, "there is a colour bar and that colour bar is represented by all the different bags, so when you build it's much easier. You can say ‘number seven, that was the light blue one,' then you can see here as well as just colours there are numbers on it." Lego Art introduces exclusive new elements, an expanded colour palette and is an entry point for new fans. Model Designer Kitt Grace Kossmann explained, "some of them are up to four to seven percent extra so you get a lot of extra bricks," and continued, "where you can reuse, as you can see for example in The Beatles, the skin colour was easy to mingle around and do on all of them, then for example Marilyn Monroe where you have different backgrounds, you needed a spare colour. In that one I had to use more extra bricks than in The Beatles. I wouldn't say that we have been compromising, we decided to make it as good as possible." During the development process of the Lego Art theme, Model Designer Kitt Grace Kossmann explained, "one of the reasons why some of them have tiles is actually the plates, when you look at them, they look much more smooth, they were really looking nice. But also I think the one with the studs on cater also for Lego fans, being a Star Wars fan and Lego fan is really combined nicely in that one, whereas this one is perhaps more appealing to not super fans." Lego Art Design Manager Samuel Johnson discussed the combination of 1×1 round plates and 1×1 round tiles on the same mosaic achieve unique shading effects and explained, "that is something that was considered during development and we cannot exclude the possibility of combining them in the future. However, that can cause challenges when developing the building instructions because differentiating between 1×1 round plates and 1×1 round tiles of the same colour may be difficult. The issue becomes even more prevalent within these sets because their instructions feature an unusual top-down view, showing the mosaic in two dimensions." Lego Art Design Manager Samuel Johnson discussed the soundtracks accompany each model and explained, "each set features its own soundtrack which has been developed exclusively for these products. The building instructions feature a QR code to access the soundtrack and they are about ninety minutes in length. They discuss the background behind the subjects being constructed. 31200 Star Wars The Sith, for instance, features commentary from Lucasfilm employees about the design of each character and their original development. Moreover, the soundtracks conclude with designer interviews so the creators of each mosaic can provide some information about the production of Lego Art." == Launch ==

The Lego Art theme was launched on 24 August 2020 in the US. As part of the marketing campaign, The Lego Group released four construction sets. == Construction sets ==

Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe Released on 1 August 2020, '''Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe (set number: 31197)''' is based on the Marilyn Diptych painting by Andy Warhol. It consists of 3,341 pieces and offers builders four different colour options. The accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Jessica Black, a curator at The Andy Warhol Museum; and Blake Gopnik, an art critic. In August 2021, The Lego Group announced Andy Warhol's Marilyn Monroe (set number: 31197) would be retired on 31 December 2021. The Beatles Released on 1 August 2020, The Beatles (set number: 31198) is based on The Beatles rock band from England. It consists of 2,933 pieces and offers builders the option to recreate any one of the four members. The accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with broadcaster and Beatles expert Geoff Lloyd, British journalist and Beatles fan Samira Ahmed, and Nish Kumar, a comedian, TV presenter, and Beatles fan. In August 2021, The Lego Group announced Marvel Studios Iron Man (set number: 31199) would be retired on 31 December 2021. In August 2021, The Lego Group announced Star Wars The Sith (set number: 31200) would be retired on 31 December 2021. Later, in April 2021, Lego released an alternative set of instructions to provide builders with additional build options namely Hedwig, the Platform 9¾ sign, and the Golden Snitch. In August 2021, The Lego Group announced Harry Potter Hogwarts Crests (set number: 31201) would be retired on 31 December 2023. Later, in April 2021, Lego released an alternative set of instructions to provide builders with additional options for recreating the characters. In August 2021, The Lego Group announced Disney's Mickey Mouse (set number: 31202) would be retired on 31 December 2023. On 10 September 2021, The Lego Group had published instructions for two new alternate builds for World Map (set number: 31203) are Denmark and Europe. In August 2021, The Lego Group that announced World Map (set number: 31203) would be retiring on 31 December 2023. Art Project – Create Together (set number: 21226) was retired at the end of 2022. Elvis Presley "The King" Released on 1 March 2022, Elvis Presley "The King" (set number: 31204) is based on Elvis Presley, an American singer and actor who was dubbed the "King of Rock and Roll". It consists of 3,445 pieces and offers builders the option to recreate any one of the three different Elvis Presley options. Three of the same set can also be combined to create Elvis Presley playing the guitar. Elvis Presley "The King" (set number: 31204) was retired at the end of 2022. In an interview, Jim Lee stated, "we have our style and so how do you translate it given these parameters, and still make it look visually aesthetically cool, but also recognizably ours and I think that was a big hurdle," and continued, "first, it was converting the mindset to a different medium. And knowing the image was in a square format was one of the largest considerations." Rolling Stones Released on 1 June 2022, Rolling Stones (set number: 31206) is based on English band The Rolling Stones. It consists of 1,998 pieces. The accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with graphic designer John Pasche. Pasche commented, "Who would have believed, 50 odd years ago… that design would be made into a Lego piece. Wow!". Lego Design Manager Fiorella Groves explained, "Since the tongue logo is one of the most recognized logos, our biggest challenge was to figure out how we could get the Lego Art design as close to the original as possible. Previous sets have been created with 1×1 round Lego tiles as a mosaic, but this time, in the spirit of being more Rock ‘n' Roll, we have used the full spectrum of Lego bricks to capture the organic curves that John created. Hearing his reaction to our final design makes me so happy!" Floral Art Released on 1 August 2022, Floral Art (set number: 31207), with a total of 2,870 pieces and offers builders the option to recreate any one of the three different colour options. Hokusai: The Great Wave Released on 1 January 2023, Hokusai: The Great Wave (set number: 31208) is based on Japanese ukiyo-e artist Katsushika Hokusai's The Great Wave off Kanagawa woodblock print. It consists of 1,810 pieces. The accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with the art curators Naoko Mikami and Alfred Haft. The Amazing Spider-Man Released on 1 August 2023, The Amazing Spider-Man (set number: 31209) is based on the Marvel Comics, The Amazing Spider-Man. It consists of 2,099 pieces. The accompanying soundtrack includes interviews with Marvel senior editors Tom Brevoort and Nick Lowe. Modern Art Released on 1 August 2023, Modern Art (set number: 31210). It consists of 805 pieces and offers builders the option to recreate any four model options. Keith Haring – Dancing Figures Released in May 2025, Keith Haring – Dancing Figures (set number: 31216). It is based on American artist Keith Haring's iconic motifs. The building set, designed for adults, features 1,773 pieces and five instruction pamphlets, one for each of the five figures. They can be displayed on the wall or on stands. == Reception ==

In July 2020, Lego Art was shortlisted for the Play Creators Awards 2020. In September 2022, Jim Lee Batman Collection (set number: 31205) was listed on the "Five of the best Lego Batman sets for Batman Day 2022" by Lego fan site Brick Fanatics. In February 2023, World Map (set number: 31203) was listed as "The biggest Lego sets of all time" by Lego fan site Brick Fanatics. == See also ==