Well, that incredible optical illusion at the Louvre has been destroyed by the public

It took four days, 400 volunteers, and around 2,000 pieces of paper to install, and within a day, the public had destroyed it all.

But hey, it was always going to happen, according to the artist.

Taking over the main courtyard of the Louvre Museum in Paris, the installation was the work of French street artist JR, as he is only known by.

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Commissioned as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Louvre Pyramid, the work is a giant paper collage surrounding the structure. 

Although the museum itself dates back to the 12th century, the Louvre Pyramid, designed by Chinese-born U.S. architect I.M. Pei, was officially opened on Mar. 30, 1989.

It's an optical illusion, which "reveals" an image of the courtyard's foundation where the pyramid was erected. It resembles an otherworldly archaeological dig, and it sure is something:

JR posted multiple images of the work from the perfect sky-high viewpoint, one which honoured his late friend, Belgian-born French artist Agnès Varda, who died on Saturday aged 90 years — check out the 2017 Oscar-nominated documentary Faces Places for a delightful look at their work together.

Between Tuesday, Mar. 26 and Friday, Mar. 29, JR invited 400 volunteers to assist with the installation, his largest collage to date. 

According to The Guardian, the work spanned over 183,000 square feet, and was made completely out of paste and around 2,000 pieces of paper.

Image: Chesnot/Getty Images

Being made of paper, however, the work was not to be long-lived after its Saturday reveal, with most of it destroyed underfoot by visitors to the work. By Sunday, it was toast. But according to the artist, it wasn't meant to last.

"The images, like life, are ephemeral. Once pasted, the art piece lives on its own," wrote JR on Twitter. "The sun dries the light glue and with every step, people tear pieces of the fragile paper. The process is all about participation of volunteers, visitors, and souvenir catchers."

It wasn't the first time JR has created an eye-popping optical illusion using the Louvre Pyramid — he made it disappear in 2016.

At least we have pictures, we guess.

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