Is Jeff Koons' bouquet of tulips cracking?
The very controversial sculpture offered by the American artist in homage to the victims of the 2015 attacks and installed in the gardens of the Champs-Elysées is once again at the heart of an emerging controversy.
It was involuntarily turned on by a Parisian art lover.
“Friday, leaving the Petit Palais, I went to see the arrangements made around this monumental work.
What was my surprise when I discovered that two of the fingers of the hand holding the bouquet were already cracked.
I immediately made a Tweet to alert the city services which are responsible for its maintenance, ”confides, still stunned, Guillaume Giraudon, cultural communicator by profession.
We can see in this photo an alteration of the monumental sculpture, but the Paris town hall ensures that it has not spotted any cracks.
LP / BH
“It is not even a year old and has cost several millions to install and reorganize the garden: the monumental work
Bouquet of Tulips
by Jeff Koons is breaking its figure!
Until it cracks and a few flowers fall on the head of an instagramer, ”relayed the person on Twitter.
The post was viewed 84,000 times and retweeted 300 times with mostly critical comments, including on the wooden fence that protects the work.
It is not even a year old, weighs 60t and has cost several million euros to manufacture, install and reorganize the garden: the monumental work Bouquet of Tulips by Jeff Koons is already breaking its head !!!
pic.twitter.com/0N3u6CbVPW
- Guillaume Giraudon (@ Guiguiii94) September 18, 2020
The sculpture in bronze, painted steel and aluminum, which weighs nearly 34 tons (more than 60 with its base in limestone from Ile-de-France) and culminates at 13 meters high has already caused waves of ink to flow.
In addition to the cost of the work - nearly 3.5 million euros - financed by patronage via the Paris Fund (the artist only offered the concept), it is the initial location project, between the Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris and the Palais de Tokyo, which has been criticized.
Paris Newsletter
Every morning, the news of your department seen by Le Parisien
I'm registering
Your email address is collected by Le Parisien to enable you to receive our news and commercial offers.
Learn more
The object of vandalism only one month after its inauguration with great pomp, finally behind the Grand Palais, is the Bouquet of tulips also the victim of poor workmanship?
The future will tell.
The town hall evokes pigeon droppings
Asked about this affair, the mayor of Paris explains that “the services of the City went there last week.
They did not notice any cracks but traces of pigeon droppings which will be cleaned up next week or the week after ”.
A conclusion that does not convince our art lover who remains formal about the existence of cracks.
"The cleaning operation will be an opportunity to check the condition of the sculpture", indicates the City, specifying that the agents will hoist themselves to the top of the work using a basket.
Obviously the best way to take her pulse.