They\u2019re the fabled duo who first wrapped the arches of this same bridge in straw-colored fabric in 1985. Over the years, they also surrounded 11 islands in Florida\u2019s Biscayne Bay with flamingo-pink cloth, hung saffron-colored fabric \u201cgates\u201d in New York\u2019s Central Park, installed a \u201crunning fence\u201d of billowing white material across nearly 25 miles of Sonoma and Marin counties and, in 1991, planted 3,100 yellow umbrellas, blooming like 20-foot-tall poppies, through the Tejon Pass north of L.A.<\/p>\n
I interviewed Christo in 2011, and he was eloquent about how his and his wife\u2019s work alters perceptions of nature, and about the deliberately transient character of the art itself. JR, an acolyte of their work, told me in an email that \u201can ephemeral artwork forces you to come now, and usually to come with other people. The visit becomes a shared moment \u2026 and this moment becomes a memory.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a city celebrated for artworks that have survived for centuries, this installation was very nearly too transient. A kooky hailstorm in late May, a heat wave in June, followed by ruthlessly ripping winds, delayed the opening by days. At last, beginning one midnight, the air pumps began and the work arose like a limestone-colored souffl\u00e9. It will be open around the clock until June 28.<\/p>\n
Plus \u00e7a change, plus c\u2019est la m\u00eame chose. Back in 1985, Christo\u2019s engineer on the Pont Neuf project, Ted Dougherty, pointed out that above 25 mph, \u201cwind is not our friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The piece works from two vantage points: from afar \u2014 visible from a lot of central Paris \u2014 and also from inside it, in the \u201ccave\u201d part. Pedestrians crossing the bridge pass through a fabricated interior, a cavern-like space printed in 3D realism and enhanced with a specially designed scent to evoke the dank, earthy aroma of humankind\u2019s early habitations.<\/p>\n
![\"Men](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781966953_354_.jpeg\")
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JR and Thomas Bangalter in \u201cLa Caverne du Pont Neuf\u201d in Paris.<\/p>\n
(Tara-Jay Bangalter)<\/p>\n
JR intended it to be both. \u201cFrom the start I designed two works in one. There is the silhouette \u2014 what you catch from the quais, from the bridges, from a boat on the Seine or simply walking past on your way somewhere else. That image belongs to everyone, including the people who never chose to look at art that day.\u201d<\/p>\n
And then, he said, \u201cthere is the inside, which is slower and more intimate, almost in the dark, hard to photograph.\u201d That aspect is \u201ca journey to cross the bridge, to go from darkness to light.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the arches of the Pont Neuf more than 40 years ago, it took years of planning and permits to make it happen. \u201cLa Caverne du Pont Neuf\u201d was a breeze by comparison.<\/p>\n
JR, whose other vast outdoor works have delivered double-takes of humans\u2019 scale and their architecture, told me that cities have come to understand \u201cthat public art brings people together and that the image travels around the world. Once Christo showed it could be done safely and beautifully, the conversation changed. It was much easier for me to have my project accepted, thanks to them. They also proved the economic positive impact to the cities they worked in. I believe there should be more large-scale, ambitious public art projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one thing to conceive of such a project and another altogether to make it happen \u2014 so much technology, compared to, say, mixing paints and choosing a paintbrush. But the science that \u201cLa Caverne\u201d required \u201cis the art, not an obstacle to it,\u201d JR said.<\/p>\n
![\"Passengers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781966954_486_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cTrompe l\u2019oeil turns adults back into children,\u201d JR said.<\/p>\n
(Elea Jeanne Schmitter)<\/p>\n
All the canvas, the engineering, the meticulous assembly, the permits \u2014 \u201cnone of that is preparation for the work, it is the work. Christo taught me this. The process is visible, and even more after the storm we experienced a couple of days before opening to the public. Nature always reminds you who is in charge. When the wind tore the canvas before we opened, we took it down, re-sewed it, reinforced it,\u201d all in full public view.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere I stay careful is in not letting the technology become the subject. The augmented reality by Snap\u2019s AR Studio adds to the project, doesn\u2019t take you away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
That air should be JR\u2019s vital collaborator \u2014 no complex and costly scaffolding for these magic mountains \u2014 is nothing new in Paris.<\/p>\n
The first free flight of humans above the earth, on Nov. 21, 1783, sent aloft two men in a hot-air balloon crafted by the Montgolfier brothers from silk fancifully painted in blue and gold with figures of the zodiac. It wafted across Paris for about 25 minutes at about 3,000 feet. Ephemeral, yes \u2014 and unforgettable.<\/p>\n
Artists and couturiers are fond of the whimsy of trompe l\u2019oeil, the trick of the eye, the illusion of reality. I am a sucker for it, for fashion like that of clothing designer Elsa Schiaparelli. JR has used it often, as a massive-scale magical deception to make the Louvre Pyramid \u201cdisappear\u201d into the old Louvre, and opening up an imaginary subterranean world below the Eiffel Tower.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrompe l\u2019oeil turns adults back into children,\u201d he told me. \u201cYou know it isn\u2019t real, you know that \u2018La Caverne du Pont-Neuf\u2019 is not made of rock, that this is printed canvas. And yet your eye wants to believe it, and for a moment you let yourself. That gap between knowing and believing is where the play happens, and people love being inside that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paris\u00a0\u2014\u00a0There\u2019s a present-day answer to the question that was posed in verse by the French medieval poet and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2308,12947,149414,1409,217,4679,149412,34113,48,52,51,47,50,49,149413,39002,16123,149415,4269,3016,72],"class_list":["post-368393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-art","tag-canvas","tag-christo","tag-city","tag-day","tag-human","tag-innovative-work","tag-jr","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-old-bridge","tag-other-people","tag-paris","tag-pont-neuf","tag-reality","tag-wind","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}