Celebrated late artistic duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude had first planned to wrap the Parisian landmark 60 years ago. Now, the project has finally been realized.
It's a wrap: The 'L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped' project by late artist Christo and Jeanne-Claude was realized posthumouslyImage: Rafal Yaghobzadeh/AP Photo/picture alliance
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Early in the morning in Paris, there are few tourists on the Champs Elysees and almost no cars on the streets.
But at the Arc de Triomphe, dozens of journalists are milling about, some filming the numerous climbers who first peer down from the platform atop the landmark before slowly descending as they lower nearly 25,000 square meters (about 30,000 square yards) of silver-blue fabric down the sides of the monument.
The "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" project officially opens on September 18, and the Parisian monument will remain shrouded for about two weeks. Although the deceased artist who inspired this project, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff — or Christo for short — insisted that his works of art had no particular message, some passersby wonder if this latest project might just have a hidden meaning.
Christo and his partner, Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, best known as Jeanne-Claude, gained fame for wrapping historic buildings, including the German Reichstag in 1995 and Paris' Pont Neuf bridge.
The famous pair Christo and Jeanne-Claude were icons in the art worldImage: Imago Images/Sven Simon
'The most impressive person I ever met'
Among the crowd in the square on that particular morning is Vladimir Yavachev, Christos' nephew who has overseen the Paris project since his uncle died in May 2020 at the age of 84.
He appears to be constantly in motion — running to the foot of the Arc de Triomphe to give instructions to the workers, then allowing passersby to take a photo with him, or making brief comments to journalists.
"How do I feel? I just miss him a lot — he was the most impressive person I ever met," he tells DW of his uncle. "I miss Christo's energy, his enthusiasm, his criticism, his curiosity."
Yavachev began working as his uncle's assistant in 1990 when he was only 17 years old.
"My uncle and his wife Jeanne-Claude had the idea for the Paris monument back in 1961, when he lived near the landmark," he explains, adding that they even created a photomontage of the project.
But it took more than half a century before it was realized. "They didn't take any concrete steps to make it happen, such as obtaining permits to implement the plan, until 2017 — that's why we're only carrying out the project now," Yavachev says.
The wrapping was supposed to be completed in the spring of 2020, but the team initially postponed the project, first because kestrels moved to the Arc to nest after the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral in April 2019. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic.
In honor of his uncle and Jeanne-Claude, who passed away in 2009, Yavachev promised to complete the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe — it was, after all, Christo's wish.
"That's quite a responsibility, of course, to oversee such a project. You either have to get used to the stress or have a heart attack," says Yavachev with a grin.
Arc de Triomphe shrouded for a fortnight
At €14 million ($16.5 million), the cost of the installation comes from the late artist's own funds, as well as the sale of sketches, photomontages and miniature versions of the artwork.
Christo's huge artworks: From the Arc de Triomphe to The Mastaba
After The Mastaba in London and the Floating Piers in Italy, landscape artist Christo has revealed a new project for Paris: he will shroud one of the the City of Light's most memorable landmarks, the Arc de Triomphe.
Image: AFP/Christo and Jeanne-Claude - 2018 Christo/Andre Grossmann
Wrapping the Arc de Triomphe
The renowned Bulgarian-born artist Christo has revealed his project for Paris: Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, scheduled for April 2020. Conceived in 1962, the triumphal arch will be enshrouded by a silvery-blue wrapping of recyclable artificial fabric clinging closely to the arch's shape, and bound by red rope. The inventive 83-year old artist previously worked with his deceased wife, Jeanne-Claude.
Image: AFP/Christo and Jeanne-Claude - 2018 Christo/Andre Grossmann
Revisiting Paris, 35 years later
The Arc de Triomphe installation will coincide with an exhibition in the Centre Pompidou showcasing Christo and Jeanne-Claude's wrapping of Paris' iconic Pont Neuf bridge in September 1985. That work lent the structure a silky, curtain-like appearance.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
From ancient Egypt to modern London
The London Mastaba was a pyramidal sculpture made of more than 7,000 stacked barrels floating on the Serpentine lake in London's Hyde Park from June 18 to September 23, 2018. It was inspired by the trapeze-formed burial tombs typical of ancient Egypt.
Image: Reuters/S. Dawson
When artists dream big
The plans for The Mastaba began in 1977. The original project was conceived by Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude and was supposed to be built in the desert south of Abu Dhabi. Consisting of 410,000 colored oil barrels, if it is built one day, it would be the largest sculpture in the world. The Mastaba in the United Arab Emirates is Christo's only planned permanent large sculpture.
Image: 1979 Christo/Photo: Wolfgang Volz
A tribute to Christo's wife
When Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2009, their plans for The Mastaba in Abu Dhabi got a whole new dimension. It wouldn't be just a monumental addition to their work but also a memorial site dedicated to Christo's wife. After all, the two often visited the United Arab Emirates to inspect the site. For now, The Mastaba is the only project listed under "work in progress" on their website.
Image: Christo and Jeanne-Claude/W. Volz
The Gates
In 2005, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "Gates" graced New York City's Central Park. Over 7,500 orange banners swayed in the wind, illuminating the pathways of the massive park. Eye-catchers in both the sunny and snowy February landscape, they drew over four million viewers over the course of 16 days. Once dismantled, the installation's pieces, including fabric and steel, were sent to recycling.
Image: picture-alliance/Schroewig/Graylock
The masters of superlatives
The journey from the initial idea to the completion of an artwork can be lengthy. For instance, it took Christo and Jeanne-Claude 23 years to realize their project Wrapped Reichstag. The spectacular show eventually took place in June 1995 when they wrapped the seat of the German parliament with 100,000 square meters of silver fabric. Five million visitors came to see it within 14 days.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Kneffel
Perilous projects
In the 1990s, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's art interventions became increasingly gigantic and risky. A worker died when assembling one of the 3,000 umbrellas for the joint installation The Umbrellas in Japan and California. Christo has since then hired only professional climbers and engineers and commissioned German companies to manufacture the huge fabrics for his objects.
Image: Getty Images/Gamma-Rapho/K. Kaku
Walking on water
In June 2016, around 1.2 million people walked over the waters of the Lake Iseo in Italy thanks to Christo's project The Floating Piers. The three kilometers long and 16 meters wide cloth-covered walkways connected two islands of the lake with the town of Sulzano. It was the artist's first major artwork since the death of his wife, Jeanne-Claude.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Venezia
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More than a thousand people have been employed on the project. Among them is 34-year-old Anne Burghartz from the Stuttgart-based structural engineering firm, Schlaich Bergermann Partner.
For the past two-and-a-half years, she and her colleagues have developed a cage structure based on Christos' drawings, which the artist worked on until the end of his life.
The structure protects the frescoes and reliefs on the monument as the fabric is then pulled over it. A total of 200 holes were drilled to install the structure, which will be resealed when the installation is demounted. The polypropylene fabric is recyclable.
At this point, Burghartz is making sure that everything goes smoothly. "I got less and less sleep over the past weeks, because there was a lot to prepare up to the last minute," she says. "But I'm glad that everything worked out. Today, I just get to watch as a tourist."
Anne Burghartz has been overseeing the structural work for the historic Paris installationImage: Lisa Louis/DW
A few meters away from Burghartz, 73-year-old Wolfgang Volz takes photos of the works on the installation. He has been documenting Christo and Jeanne-Claude's artworks for 50 years.
"I am the custodian of their art and keep the photos well organized for future generations," he says. That's not easy at the moment.
"It's a catastrophe, of course, that they're no longer here. But we're trying to make the best of it." Volz added that "they invite the public to engage with art — even if their art had no message except that it's just art, good art."
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Art without a message?
Stephane Lembert believes the wrapped monument does have a message. He, too, is taking a photo of the monument — but with his cell phone.
"I read about the project and came by specially," says the 58-year-old cab driver and contemporary art fan. "It's impressive to see this — just as impressive as Christo's covering of the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris in 1985.
"The artist manages to create a link between the past and present through his installations. It's as if he's telling us to continue to keep the past alive."
Christo and his large-scale artworks
The Bulgarian-American artist was renowned for wrapping building and landscapes. A tribute to Christo, who died at the age of 84.
Image: Christo and Jeanne-Claude/W. Volz
Wrapping the Arc de Triomphe (2020)
The "Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" was announced as the last large-scale project completed by Christo during his lifetime. The Parisian landmark at the end of the Champs Elysees was to be covered in September 2020 with a silvery-blue recyclable fabric, tied by a red rope. Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude had developed the concept for this installation back in 1962.
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 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 ft.)-long cloth was stretched across Rifle Gap, a valley in Colorado.
Image: picture alliance/Everett Collection
A different look at things (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, the fabric would glitter 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 the installation of one of the 3,000 umbrellas set up in both Japan and California for the project "The Umbrellas." Afterwards, Christo hired only professional climbers and engineers. He also commissioned German companies to manufacture the huge fabrics for his art.
Image: Getty Images/Gamma-Rapho/K. Kaku
The 'Wrapped Reichstag': a happening (1995)
The journey from the initial idea to the completion of an artwork can be lengthy. It took Christo and Jeanne-Claude 23 years to bring about their project "Wrapped Reichstag." The spectacular show finally took place in June 1995 when they wrapped the seat of the German parliament with 100,000 square meters (1,076,000 square feet) 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 back in the 1960s. In 1962 he blocked a Parisian street with stacked barrels. The barricade, titled "Iron Curtain," was created in protest of the construction of the Berlin Wall. He referred to the division again 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 the 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 designed 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. Over 1.2 million visitors came to walk the three-kilometer 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 regularly appeared in Christo's works. The pyramid, 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 UK.
Image: Reuters/S. Dawson
A monument to the artist couple
The Mastaba in London was a foretaste of the great mastaba that Christo and Jeanne-Claude had planned for Abu Dhabi. The gigantic pyramid of 410,000 oil barrels was to be the artist couple's first major permanent project. They often visited their desired location in the desert of the United Arab Emirates. "The Mastaba," featured on Christo's homepage, remained a dream.
Image: Christo and Jeanne-Claude/W. Volz
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For Yavachev's nephew, the artworks of his Bulgarian-born uncle are above all an expression of the latter's search for freedom.
"He came from a communist country and fled from there as an illegal immigrant," he explains of Christo's flight to Austria in 1957.
Yavachev wants to keep this legacy alive, and hopes the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe is not the last project he undertakes on behalf of Christo and Jeanne-Claude.
"The two of them also had plans to create the Mastaba, the largest sculpture in the world, in the United Arab Emirates near the capital Abu Dhabi. One day, we may carry that out as well — five years from now, or maybe in 20."
