The Arc de Triomphe Is Set to Be Wrapped in Fabric for Christo and Jeanne-Claude's Final Project
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A new monumental masterpiece by Christo—best known for producing larger-than-life environmental installations alongside his wife, Jeanne-Claude—is coming to Paris more than a year after the legendary artist's death.
The posthumous work, funded by Christo's nephew, Vladimir Yavatchev, will showcase the City of Light's iconic Arc de Triomphe draped in 270,000 square feet of silver-blue fabric and 23,000 feet of red rope. Aptly titled “Wrapped,” the project—which was originally set to take place last fall, but was delayed due to the pandemic—will cost €14 million (roughly $16.5 million) and take approximately 12 weeks to complete.
"The biggest challenge for me is that Christo is not here,” Yavatchev recently told Reuters. “I miss his enthusiasm, his criticisms, his energy."
According to Travel + Leisure, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had been planning the creative undertaking since the 1960s, when the couple lived near the Arc de Triomphe: a 50-meter-high landmark at the center of Place Charles de Gaulle, erected to honor the fallen soldiers who fought in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
This won't be the first time a Parisian monument will be wrapped in fabric thanks to Christo and Jeanne-Claude: In 1985, the duo dressed the Pont Neuf—Paris' oldest standing bridge, which was completed in 1607—in a similar look.
"Until his last breath, Christo worked tirelessly on this project—his last 'temporary exhibition,' as he liked to call it," Simon Shaw, Vice Chairman of the Global Fine Arts Division at Sotheby's, recently told designboom. "And these original works indeed open a window onto the magical imagination of the late artist, the joy and wonder he found in preparing his most ambitious installation."
“Wrapped” will be on display from September 18th through October 3rd. But for those who can't travel to Paris to see it in real life, don't fret—you can catch it on this YouTube live stream!
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