Why the Best Public Art Keeps Disappearing
Artists and galleries are favoring works that shoot for spectacle and virality over permanence.
Kermit the Frog, Even, a work by Alex Da Corte, appeared on Place Vendome as part of Art Basel Paris in 2025
Source: Xavier Francolon/APThe best known artwork featuring the Pont Neuf in Paris no longer exists. Its less famous depictions dot the collections of museums around the world (Renoir, Monet and Pissarro all took a crack at it), but none compares to a piece made almost exactly 40 years ago.
In 1985 the late artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the entire thing in 450,000 square feet of silky golden fabric. Resplendent and monumental, The Pont Neuf Wrapped drew a reported 3 million visitors in its two weeks of existence. The project wasn’t commissioned by the government — in fact, it took the pair a decade to convince Parisian officials to let it happen. And it was entirely self-funded, its $2.5 million estimated cost paid for by sales of the duo’s artwork.