The 25,000 square meters of bluish silver fabric and the 3,000 meters of red rope have been fully deployed around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The installation, as Christo (died in May 2020) and Jeanne-Claude dreamed of it, was inaugurated on Saturday, September 18. Thousands of people flocked to the pedestrianized Place de l’Etoile to observe the ephemeral packaged Triumphal Arch, visible until October 3.
“The Arc de triomphe packaged is a wonderful present to Parisians, to the French and, beyond that, to all art lovers”, declared the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, during the press conference to present the work on Thursday.
As early as 1962, Christo and Jeanne-Claude had signed a photomontage with the bundled monument, an idea that arose while looking at the monument in their first Parisian apartment, avenue Foch. At a cost of 14 million euros, the project is entirely self-financed, without public subsidy, thanks to the sale of original works by Christo, preparatory drawings, souvenirs, models and lithographs.
The packaging of the Arc de Triomphe “Will be like a living object that will come alive in the wind and reflect the light. The folds will move, the surface of the monument will become sensual ”, explained Christo while presenting his final project, two years before his death. Now it’s up to visitors to appreciate the work – or to shout at it.
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