Street Artist Makes the Iconic Louvre Pyramid Disappear
There have been iconic palaces and museums, but very rarely does it happen that an entrance and ticket hall gains equally popularity and importance as the museum itself.
The majestic, architecturally appealing and offering a striking geometry to the classic beauty of Louvre is the Louvre Pyramid. An epicentre of visitors to take a selfies, the pyramid has gained a huge popularity since its inception in 1989.
And this pyramid is going to disappear!
Take a breath! It’s not going to be pulled down but it will be wrapped with the optical illusion art piece by street artist JR. Famous for his quirky black and white photography that have decorated the walls of prominent buildings with his gigantic photographs will make the Louvre Pyramid disappear.
JR will be covering the artistic pyramid with huge black and white wallpaper that will blend in the background of the pyramid and will practically make it disappear.
"Walking around the pyramid, I realized people turn their back on the structure to take a selfie, they don’t look at it,” JR said."I am curious to see how people will react now.”
The huge photograph will wrap around the pyramid and from certain angles, the 70-foot high glass monument will practically vanish.
This will be a breakthrough in JR’s work since it’s the first time he won’t be featuring faces but a structure in his photographs.
Why did he choose Louvre? "Bringing people’s attention to other people is something that interests me. While through my other works, I touch people through the people in the photograph, this time disappearance of the pyramid will make people communicate with each other and find the right angle to see it vanish totally”.
This also marks the beginning of display of JR’s collection in Louvre exhibits.
The vanishing of the pyramid will reignite the debate on modernism that separated French society in the 1980s, when the pyramid was constructed.
"It will be interesting to see how the Louvre would look without the pyramid which one of the most photographed and esteemed monument of the city”.
The project will run from Wednesday, May 25 until Monday, June 27. Catch the glimpse of Louvre without the pyramid if you are in Paris the same time around.
