| Bouquet of Tulips | |
|---|---|
| Artist | Jeff Koons |
| Year | 2019 |
| Medium | Bronze, aluminum, stainless steel [1] |
| Dimensions | 11 m(36 ft) |
| Weight | 34-ton (sculpture) and 27-ton base |
| Location | Paris |
| 48°51′57″N2°18′57″E / 48.8657°N 2.3159°E | |
Bouquet of Tulips is a metal sculpture by American artist Jeff Koons, [2] [3] which is located outside the Petit Palais in Paris, France. It is one of Koons's largest sculptures, [4] and his first commemorative work. [5] The sculpture was first announced in 2016 and unveiled in October 2019. [6]
The 11 m (36 ft) tall sculpture of a hand clutching stylized flowers, modeled on the Statue of Liberty and made of polychromed bronze, aluminum, and stainless steel, [7] honors the victims of the November 2015 attacks. [8] The bouquet features 11 flowers and not a dozen, with the missing 12th meant to represent the victims. [9]
In 2019, Koons announced that 80% of the proceeds from selling the copyright of the artwork for commercial products depicting the sculpture will go to the victims' families. The remaining 20% will be dedicated to its maintenance. [10]
Koons announced the gift of a sculpture to the people of Paris in November 2016, after Jane D. Hartley, the United States ambassador to France at the time, had asked him to create a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks in France in 2015 and 2016. [11] Hartley had approached Koons after discussing the idea at a dinner in Paris in January 2016 with Jerry Speyer, then chairman of the board of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and a collector of the artist's work. [12]
The sculpture was made in Germany. [13] The costs for production and installation — amounting to 3.5 million euros — was raised from private donations by a nonprofit foundation, Fonds Pour Paris, and its counterpart in the United States, the Paris Foundation. [14] Among the donors to the project are Bernard Arnault, Leon and Debra Black, Kenneth C. Griffin, Leonard Lauder, and Ralph Schlosstein. [15] Koons later added $1 million of his own money, after delays led to an increase in production costs. [16]
The city proposed several sites to Koons, and he chose the one on the plaza in front of the Palais de Tokyo for its symbolic value; also, the plaza is not restricted by historic preservation provisions. [17] Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo subsequently announced that the sculpture was to be installed in 2017 on the plaza in front of the Palais de Tokyo. [18] However, the pavement turned out to be not strong enough to support the 34-ton sculpture and its 27-ton base. Also, there was criticism that the site had no connection with the attacks. [19] In January 2018, 23 French artists, politicians and cultural figures – including the artist Christian Boltanski and a former culture minister, Frédéric Mitterrand [20] – asked for the plan to be abandoned, arguing in a letter to the newspaper Libération that the gift "was opportunistic and cynical". A second open letter, published by Le Monde and signed by various other arts professionals, including Palais de Tokyo cofounder Jérôme Sans and artist Loris Gréaud, followed and was intended as a defense of Koons's sculpture. [21] [22] The plan to place the sculpture in front of the Palais de Tokyo was dropped by Culture Minister Françoise Nyssen in May 2018. [23]
The government's alternative proposal to install the monument in Parc de la Villette was later rejected by city planners. [24] Other venues that were under consideration included the Place des États-Unis. [25] The venue finally chosen is between Place de la Concorde and the Petit Palais, near the Embassy of the United States. [26] [27]