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'Bouquet of Tulips': Jeff Koons Inaugurates in Paris the artwork representing a giant bouquet of 11 tulips in memory of Terrorism Victims.
After years of debates and indecisions, finally, on October 4th 2019 Jeff Koons inaugurates the giant bouquet of tulips in Paris, together with the mayor Anne Hidalgo.
The works has been installed on the back of Petit Palais, not far from the Champs Elysées, despite, at first, it was supposed to be located in the Trocadéro area, considered though an unsuitable place for several reasons.
The making of Koons project had a cost of 3,5 millions of Euro and has been entirely financed by private donations.
Bouquet of Tulips by Jeff Koons: from the Project to the Installation
The artwork of the American artist Jeff Koons, Bouquet of Tulips, was made as a tribute offered by America to France and dedicated to the victims of the terrorist attacks that striked the capital between 2015 and 2016.
The project comes to life thanks to the request of Jane D. Hartley, at the time United States Ambassador in France, who asked the artist to create a memorial for terrorism victims.
Koons sculpture, a hand that offers a bouquet of tulips made as balloons, is 12 meters tall, with a width of 8 meters and 10 of depth, and it is realised in polychrome bronze, stainless steel and alluminum, for a weight of roughly 35 tons.
Koons' homage to France was annouced by the artist in 2016 but, because of some controveries, the realisation of the work has been subject to several delays, therefore pushing the inauguration of the work to October 4th 2019
During the presentation, alongside the mayor Anne Hidalgo, very enthusiast for this gift, Koons explained the meaning of the sculpture and said to feel close to the French citizens and to the families touched in first person by the tragedy.
Koons Project
The idea for this work comes from a litography of Pablo Picasso from 1958 titled Bouquet of Peace, while the structure of the sculpture is inspired by the Statue of Liberty by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, given to the United States by the French.
The American artist announced the gift on November 2016, offering though just the project of the work, while the costs for the production would have been on the French State.
This choice raised criticism and controversies towards Koons, considered too attentive about marketing and business.
The Bouquet of Tulips has been finally realised thanks to the contribution of private backers, as Koons art collectors Kenneth C. Griffin and Bernard Arnault, but also other names from French high society.
Jeff Koons himself has contributed to the financing of the artwork, after the set budget of 3,5 millions was exceeded for one million Dollars, because of the continous delays.
Moreover, the artist donated the 80% of his earnings from copyrigh to the associations of the victims, while the other 20% will be given to the Parisian district for maintenance.
The installation of Bouquet of Tulips
Initially, Koons Tulips had to be located near the Trocadéro, between the Modern Art Museum and the Palais de Tokyo, but the idea was abandoned.
This place was considered as too touristy and without any connection to the attacks, in addition to be inadequate from a structural point of view.
In fact, under the place where the Bouquet of Tulips was supposed to be installed are located the galleries of the Palais de Tokyo, which could have not supported the total weight of 61 tons, of which 27 for the base and 34 of the artwork.
The debate about the location of the work has daleyed the installation for years, so much that the decision has not fallen on a better place, more descrete or morphologically apt, that is the gardens of the Champs-Elysées, between the Petit Palais and Place de la Concorde.
Presenting the work, Koons has explained that the bouquet includes eleven tulips instead of a dozen, the twelvefth missing flower symbolises the victims of the attacks.
The American artist feels close to the French population, because both nations have been victims of terrorist attacks, and he himself remembers the hard times faced by the city after September 11.
With these Tulips Jeff Koons wants to represent the loss, the rebirth and vitality of human spirit, in a work that recalls solidarity.
The criticism to the artist
When in 2016 Koons announced his intention to donate only the project of the tulips, leaving the costs of relisation to the French Sate, the critics moved to the artist were many.
Among the on-line petitions condemning Koons, publications on newspapers and letters, it was possible to sense the dissatisfaction of French people.
Several artists, museum directors and cultural mediators, in an open letter, defined Koons project opportunistic and cynical, asking to stop it.
Marie-Claude Beaud, director of the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco took part to this group of 23 art professionals against the realisation of the work, as also Frédéric Mitterrand, ex French ministry of culture.
In Beaud's opinion, the association of this gift to the terrorist attacks was completely inappropriate, in addition to the fact that gifts should be free, even more if you are Jeff Koons and are a billionaire.
On his end, Koons has been defended in a second letter by other French artists as Jérom Sâns, cofounder of the Palais de Tokyo, and the artist Loris Gréaud, whom approves the work and have supported the artist for the realisation of the project.
