Installation has begun on a new monumental trompe-l’oeil work from French artist JR, which will transform Paris’s Pont Neuf into an immersive cave this summer. La Caverne du Pont Neuf (2026) reimagines the city’s oldest bridge as a cave within a limestone quarry from which it and many of Paris’s buildings were constructed. The French photographer and street artist’s work pays homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s seminal work, The Pont Neuf Wrapped (1985), and will be on view day and night from June 6–28.
Bulgarian-born installation artist, Christo, and his wife and collaborator, the Moroccan artist Jeanne-Claude, first wrapped the Pont Neuf and its streetlamps with 450,000 square feet of woven polyamide sand-colored fabric in 1985 as part of The Pont Neuf Wrapped. JR’s piece will similarly use printed fabrics as well as an inflatable structure that was inspired by projects both completed and unrealized by Christo and Jeanne-Claude such as Air Package on a Ceiling, which will be presented at Gagosian in London later this month.
“My vision for this project is rooted in both the past and present of this iconic bridge,” said JR in a press statement. “I admire the legacy of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and I share their idea that the mission of art is to make us think, to question what is familiar to us. The debate that a public art project can provoke is of equal value to its realization. Art is a transformation, and a way of renewing the way we look at the world around us. Through the dream of La Caverne du Pont Neuf, this is what I hope to make possible in Paris.”
La Caverne du Pont Neuf marks the culmination of a period of exploration for the artist surrounding disconnection and social isolation, which began in 2020 with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, JR exhibited Retour à la Caverne (Return to the Cave) on the façade of the Palais Garnier in Paris, a similar cave invoking Plato’s allegory which was activated by a performance by over 150 dancers. The work served as a prelude to his piece, which encourages visitors to “abandon blindness and isolationism in favor of lucidity, togetherness, and concord among all” according to a press release. Other works in JR’s series on public buildings include La Ferita (2021) in Florence, Punto di Fuga (2021) in Rome, and La Nascita (2024) in Milan.
Inside the cavern, a sonic composition by Thomas Bangalter, formerly of Daft Punk, will imagine the sound of the monolithic space. Concurrent to this installation will be a presentation of new works by JR at Perrotin’s space in the Marais entitled “Les equisses de la Caverne,” which will run from June 5 through July 25. It will include preparatory sketches, photographs, and collages that set the foundation for the monumental installation. In addition, an hour-long documentary by Vincent Lorca will be broadcast on France TV in mid-June.
