A brand new exhibition at the Louvre gallery in Paris has become 'unstuck and damaged' just 24 hours after it was first installed.
The 'Anamorphosis' installation by the artist JR, to celebrate 30 years of the famous Louvre pyramid, is made up of 'stickers' which were stuck to the ground around the structure to form an optical illusion.
But one day after the the exhibit was first opened to the public, the tiles have already started to peel and fray.
March 29 to Sunday March 31 this week, having earlier been laid by JR and a team of volunteers.
'Anamorphosis' art is a style in which the artwork only makes sense from one single perspective.
Reports suggested the glue had failed to set in places meaning the stickers were ripped up almost immediately by the public walking over them.
Visitors said that areas with high pedestrian traffic were particularly badly damaged but some people allegedly took home pieces of the stickers as a souvenir.
Videos posted on Instagram by JR showed several visitors picking up the stickers in an apparent attempt to take home a keepsake.
Captioning the videos, the artist said he wanted people to take home pieces of the exhibit, saying: 'Take it all! Love these scenes, this is the best part!'
In a statement, a Louvre spokesperson sought to downplay the issue.
They said: 'It is to be expected that it would be damaged, but we did not know how quickly it would happen. The heat has dried the glue. In any case, it was scheduled to be taken down on Monday, so everything is OK.'
A picture posted by JR on Twitter shows the artwork before the damage was inflicted taken from the exact point it is intended to be viewed from - on the third floor of the Louvre, in a storeroom.
The illusion shows the famous Louvre pyramid stretching upwards from inside a cavernous hole at nearly twice its normal height.
According to the gallery, visitors will still be able to see the original design despite the damage and screens have been set up at the entrance to show how it is supposed to look.
The artwork was created as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the famous glass pyramid, which was designed and installed by architect Ieoh Ming Pei, and officially inaugurated on March 29, 1989.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
