The artworks at the Louvre are not usually victims of the trampling visitors, but this piece by muralist JR sure was. The artist’s paper trompe l’oeil pasted in the museum’s courtyard was dramatically destroyed by the very audience it was designed to move. The amazing collage was intended to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the museum’s glass pyramid; the 183,000-square-foot work made the pyramid appear, from a certain angle, to be sunken and rising from a quarry of white rock.
Photo: JRart/Twitter
Louvre’s Paper Collage Shredded by Visitors in a Single Day
The images, like life, are ephemeral. Once pasted, the art piece lives on its own. 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. pic.twitter.com/vNArYszXxo
— JR (@JRart) 31 mars 2019
Can’t believe this happened 👀 merci @museelouvre ! #JRauLouvre pic.twitter.com/mPC4Hw2Wlt
— JR (@JRart) 31 mars 2019
The work that took 400 volunteers to make was unveiled on Saturday, but by Sunday the 2,000-plus sheets of paper used to create the piece were torn to shreds. While in hindsight the result isn’t exactly unexpected, that didn’t prevent the art community from voicing their disappointment and worrying about the litter the art piece produced.
It's still a terrible shame that all those people had to behave like Vandals…beauty should be cherished and valued, not torn to shreds. :(
— MC from Perth (@MCfromPerth) 1 avril 2019
The original photos and idea were stunning, but when I went around noon Sunday, it was looking like a garbage dump in a hurricane with all the torn paper everywhere.
— bgoodtwit (@bgoodtwit) 31 mars 2019
The artist himself, however, seemed unbothered by the public destruction of his work, tweeting, “The images, like life, are ephemeral. Once pasted, the art piece lives on its own. The sun dries the light glue and with every step, people tear pieces of the fragile paper. The process is all about participation of the volunteers, visitors, and souvenir hunters.” 
H/T: The Guardian