street artist JR transforms musée du louvre with epic optical illusion

in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the louvre museum’s famous glass pyramid, french artist jeane rene (AKA JR) created a 17,000 sq metre optical illusion surrounding the building. over the course of five days, JR and a team of 400 volunteers used 2,000 paper ‘stickers’ to create the artwork that made the pyramid appear as though it was submerged in a quarry of white rock.

image courtesy of @JR

JR asked volunteers to come and join in on the installation titled ‘the secret of the great pyramid,‘ – his largest collage to date – between march 26th and friday 29th, ready to commemorate the anniversary of opening of the louvre pyramid the next day. although the museum itself dates back to the 12th century, the louvre pyramid, designed by chinese-born U.S. architect I.M. pei, was officially opened on march 30, 1989.

however, being made of paper the installation quickly disintegrated once visitors arrived. most of it was destroyed underfoot by visitors to the work over the weekend and by sunday, it was completely destroyed, not to the artist’s disappointment mind.

‘the images, like life, are ephemeral. once pasted, the art piece lives on its own,’ wrote JR on twitter. ‘the sun dries the light glue and with every step, people tear pieces of the fragile paper. The process is all about participation of volunteers, visitors, and souvenir catchers.’

project info

artist: JR

title: the secret of the great pyramid

dates: saturday 30th march – sunday 31st march 2019

location: louvre museum, rue de rivoli, 75001 paris, france