The installation is the realization of the late artist's dream — transforming the Paris landmark into "a living object" and creating a tribute to the city that captivated him.
The wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe is being overseen by the nephew of the late artist, ChristoImage: Rafael Yaghobzadeh/AP/picture alliance
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Sheathed in billowing silver-blue sheets of fabric, the Arc de Triomphe is undergoing a transformation this week as part of a posthumous art exhibit by the late artist Christo.
The 19th century arch, built by Napoleon to honor fallen soldiers, is being transformed into a shimmering, wrapped display that will be on view to the public from September 18 through October 3.
What is the art project?
Workers began unfurling sheets of recyclable plastic over the Parisian landmark on Sunday, capturing curious glances from people walking by. In total, 25,000 square meters (269,000 square feet) of fabric will be used to cover the arch.
In addition to the fabric, the project will also include 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) of red rope — which can also be recycled.
The wrapping and finalization of the design will take several days, but is slated to be finished by Saturday.
When it's completed, visitors will be able to walk right up to the monument free of charge and access its viewing platformImage: Rafal Yaghobzadeh/AP Photo/picture alliance
Christo himself died in May last year without ever seeing the project come to fruition. The idea first came to him when he rented an apartment near the Arc de Triomphe in the 1960s.
The project is being overseen in part by his nephew Vladimir Javacheff, as well as French authorities and the Pompidou Museum.
"Today is one of the most spectacular moments of the installation. The wrapped Arc de Triomphe starts to take form and approach the vision that was a lifelong dream for Christo and Jeanne-Claude," said Javacheff on Sunday.
Christo left behind detailed plans and sketches for the installation, writing that he wanted the arch to become "like a living object stimulated by the wind and reflecting the light."
"People are going to want to touch the Arc de Triomphe," he said.
Christo wrap of Arc de Triomphe in Paris set for September
The artist was renowned for his wrapped large-scale art. Delayed due to COVID-19, the date for the posthumous realization of his project has been confirmed.
Based on a concept Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude had developed in 1962, "Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" was to become artist's final large-scale project. He died in May 2020, before seeing its realization. After being delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wrapping of the Parisian landmark at the end of Champs Elysees will be unveiled on September 18, and remain in place until October 3.
Image: AFP/Christo and Jeanne-Claude - 2018 Christo/Andre Grossmann
Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1997)
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born in Bulgaria on June 13, 1935. After studying art in Sofia, he fled to the West. In Paris he met his future wife, Jeanne-Claude, with whom he initiated spectacular art projects in the late 1960s. Christo took care of the art; Jeanne-Claude, the organization.
Image: picture alliance/KEYSTONE
Packaging air (1968)
Christo developed his first elaborate installations in the 1960s, wrapping everyday objects such as chairs, magazines and oil drums. Later he created "Air Packages," such as this 5,600-cubic-meter (200,000-square-foot) installation at the Documenta 4 art fair in Kassel in 1968, which earned him worldwide recognition.
Image: cc-by-3.0/Dr. Ronald Kunze
Valley Curtain (1972)
In the 1970s, projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude grew more elaborate and colorful. To preserve their artistic freedom, the couple financed the installations by selling drawings, photographs and models of their works. In this spectacular creation from 1972, a 400-meter (1,310-foot)-long cloth was stretched across Rifle Gap, a valley in Colorado.
Image: picture alliance/Everett Collection
Seeing things differently (1985)
Christo and Jeanne-Claude never concealed objects and buildings to the point that they could no longer be recognized. The packaging was meant to stimulate the viewer's imagination. In 1985, they wrapped the Pont Neuf in Paris. Depending on the weather and time of day, the fabric would glisten differently — allowing the bridge to literally appear in a different light.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Art of superlatives
In the 1990s, the art interventions of Christo and Jeanne-Claude became increasingly gigantic — and risky. A worker died during installation of one of the 3,000 umbrellas set up in both Japan and California for their "Umbrellas" project. Afterwards, Christo hired only professional climbers and engineers. He had commissioned German companies to manufacture the huge amount of fabric for his art.
Image: Getty Images/Gamma-Rapho/K. Kaku
'Wrapped Reichstag': a happening (1995)
The journey from initial idea to completion of an artwork can be lengthy. It took Christo and Jeanne-Claude 23 years to realize their project "Wrapped Reichstag." The spectacular show finally took place in June 1995 once they had wrapped the seat of the German parliament with 100,000 square meters of silver fabric. Within 16 days, 5 million visitors came to see it.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Kneffel
Barrels in the Wall (1999)
Christo started working with oil drums in the 1960s — he blocked a Parisian street with stacked barrels in 1962. The barricade, entitled "Iron Curtain," was created in protest of construction of the Berlin Wall. He brought back the theme of division in his 1999 installation "The Wall," a 26-meter-high wall made of 13,000 oil barrels — set up in the Gasometer, an industrial space in Oberhausen.
Image: Wolfgang Volz
Land Art project 'The Gates' (2005)
Christo and Jeanne-Claude not only covered objects and structures, but also designed landscapes and parks; such as here in 2005 with "The Gates" in New York's Central Park. Christo and Jeanne-Claude planned the gates with the blowing fabrics in 1980, but approval of the project took even longer than the "Wrapped Reichstag." Environmental concerns were the main issue.
Image: picture-alliance/Schroewig/Graylock
A walkable air package (2013)
Christo's wife Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, and it took a few years for the artist to return to his projects. "Big Air Package" from 2013 was the first project he went alone. The 90-meter-high, air-filled textile package was set up in the Oberhausen Gasometer. Visitors could walk inside the huge sculpture — a fascinating spatial experience.
Image: Wolfgang Volz
Walking on water: 'Floating Piers' (2016)
With "Floating Piers," Christo fulfilled a longtime dream: to walk on water. More than 1.2 million visitors came to walk the 3-kilometer (nearly 2-mile) stretch of pontoons on Lake Iseo in Italy. Like all of his projects, Christo financed the roughly €13 million ($14 million) work by selling sketches and photos, allowing him to remain free and independent of sponsors.
Image: Getty images/F.Monteforte
'The Mastaba' in London (2018)
Like the air packages, variations on the idea of the mastaba shape regularly appeared in Christo's works. The pyramid with its sliced-off top, modeled after an Ancient Egyptian tomb, was a temporary installation in London's Hyde Park in 2018. The 7,506 oil barrels stacked on a floating platform were Christo's first major outdoor project in the United Kingdom.
Image: Reuters/S. Dawson
A monument for the artist couple
London was a foretaste of a great mastaba Christo and Jeanne-Claude had planned for Abu Dhabi. They had often visited their desired location in the desert of the United Arab Emirates. The gigantic pyramid of 410,000 oil barrels was to be the artist couple's first major permanent project. But unlike wrapping the Arc de Triumph, "The Mastaba" — featured on Christo's homepage — has remained a dream.
Image: Christo and Jeanne-Claude/W. Volz
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Who is Christo?
Christo, whose full name was Christo Javacheff, was born in 1935 in Bulgaria.
He moved to Paris in 1958 and began experimenting with wrapping objects in fabric and rope, creating captivating installations.
He and Jeanne-Claude oversaw several major public installations — including wrapping Paris' oldest bridge in yellow cloth in 1985.
He died of natural causes at his home in New York in May 2020.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The collection of the packaging artists
Sotheby's is auctioning the art collection of the famous artist pair in Paris. The works give new insights into the creative world of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
Image: Sotheby’s
Artists at work
Jeanne-Claude and Christo became famous globally for their phenomenal wrapping projects, which included covering bridges, parks, landscapes and even the Reichstag in Berlin. This photograph was taken at the artists' atelier in New York. Christo passed away last year, over a decade after his wife died in 2009.
Image: Sotheby’s
International Klein Blue
The monochromatic blue with a slight red tinge seems to pull the viewer into the picture. The color, now known as the International Klein Blue, was created by the French artist Yves Klein (1828-1962), who also got it patented. Christo met Klein in Paris and got this picture as a gift. The painting sold for € 350,000 ($422,000) plus fees at the auction.
Image: Sotheby’s
A chair signed by its maker
Christo loved this Gerrit Rietveld chair, probably because of its uncompromising modernity and austere form, which was a contrast to the curves in the artist's wrapping projects. Like many other works from the artist couple's collection now being auctioned, this chair is also signed by its maker. It sold for €170,000.
Image: Sotheby’s
A package made of silk
Christo and Jeanne-Claude faced the prospect of going bankrupt more than once, because both artists financed their works themselves. They earned money by selling prints of their design drawings, rights to photographs and pieces of material they used for wrapping. This piece of silk was also used as packaging in one of the artists' projects. It sold for €420,000.
Image: Sotheby’s
A television for fish
South Korean artist Nam June Paik (1932-2006) is the artist behind this wooden television frame, a work titled "Sonatine for Goldfish." Nam is believed to have actually used similar casings like an aquarium to keep goldfish. This piece from Christo and Jeanne-Claude's collection fetched €15,000.
Image: Sotheby’s
Food for thought: bacon and eggs
This sculpture by Claes Oldenburg is descriptively titled "Bacon and Egg, Ice Cream and Beef Steak." The American pop artist left Christo and Jeanne-Claude his atelier in an old cloth factory in New York, where the couple lived from 1964 onwards. Oldenburg also gave them this sculpture, which sold for €82,000, including fees — more than expected.
Image: Sotheby’s
Andy Warhol, Jackie, 1964
Jackie Kennedy was one of Andy Warhol's muses. The artist, who elevated pop art to the status of high culture, reproduced the former First Lady in several images. Christo and Jeanne-Claude did not know him personally, but were collectors of his work."Jackie" sold for €750,000, and an additional €170,000 in fees.
Image: Sotheby’s
The Umbrellas, 1991
The "Umbrellas" was the only project by Christo and Jeanne-Claude that spanned over two hemispheres. For the spectacular work, which opened on October 9, 1991, the couple installed over 3,000 umbrellas in Ibaraki in Japan and in southern California. This picture is a sketch of the design that ended up fetching five times more than expected at the auction: €1.4 million, fees not included.
