Paris can no longer keep its monumental art display under wraps after the Arc de Triomphe was encased in shimmering fabric as part of a public art display.
The $16 million “Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” project, unveiled on Thursday, consists of 270,000 square feet of silvery-blue fabric and was paid for by selling the artists’ smaller pieces. Throughout the careers of Christo and Jean-Claude, a married couple who conceived of the concept in the 1960s, the artists never accepted public funding or grants, instead relying on revenue from their sales.
Though both artists died before seeing the finished work, the couple’s nephew Vladimir Yavachev said Christo “wanted to complete this project. He made us promise him that we will do it.”
1, 2, 3 : tadam !
Après les prouesses aériennes de 95 cordistes, « L’@ArcDeTriomphe empaqueté » de @ChristoandJC commence à voir le jour !
Retrouvez toutes les informations sur le projet par ici : https://t.co/h6j1iCBsaJ#ChristoParis pic.twitter.com/3YFu5gE86m— le CMN (@leCMN) September 13, 2021
Vous êtes nombreux à venir voir l’#ArcDeTriomphe empaqueté ?
Rendez-vous du 18 septembre au 3 octobre pour découvrir l’œuvre de @ChristoandJC #ChristoParis pic.twitter.com/ETA2DE0kND— Arc de triomphe (@ArcDeTriomphe) September 16, 2021
#ChristoParis
Rendez-vous le 18 septembre pour découvrir “L’Arc de Triomphe empaqueté”, une installation temporaire des artistes @ChristoandJC !
?Retrouvez toutes les informations sur le projet par ici : https://t.co/ksbV9a2Jj8
?️https://t.co/f70UetN8Mlcc @leCMN pic.twitter.com/iChjqOMW25
— Arc de triomphe (@ArcDeTriomphe) July 16, 2021
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France’s Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot said the display is “a formidable gift offered to Parisians, the French, and beyond, to all art lovers,” and “a posthumous testimony of artistic genius.”
Passersby expressed admiration of the display on Thursday, with one saying it reminded him of “a big gray elephant.”
“You really rediscover the beauty of the form,” another observer said. “I couldn’t stop taking pictures because it’s extraordinary. … We are very lucky.”
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The artists created numerous artistic projects involving wrapping monuments, covering Germany’s Reichstag building in fabric in 1995 and hanging orange curtains over 23 miles of paths in New York’s Central Park in 2005.
The Arc de Triomphe will remain wrapped until Oct. 3. On weekends, the plaza around the arch will be closed to car traffic to allow visitors to see and touch the fabric up close.
