''L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped'', known as "L'Arc de Triomphe Empaqueté" in French, was a temporary art installation by artists

Christo and Jeanne-Claude Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations, often large landmarks a ...

where the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often called simply the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Plac ...

in Paris was wrapped in a silver-blue fabric and red rope for two weeks in 2021.

Planning and execution

are known for wrapping public monuments, including the '' Wrapped Reichstag'' in Berlin, '' The Pont Neuf Wrapped'' in Paris, and ''

The Gates ''The Gates'' was a site-specific work of art by Bulgarian artist Christo Yavacheff and French artist Jeanne-Claude, known jointly as Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The artists installed 7,503 steel " gates" along of pathways in Central Park in N ...

'' in New York.

first thought of wrapping the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile when he lived nearby in 1961. Actual planning began in 2018, intending completion in the spring of 2020 to coincide with an exhibition on the artists at the

Pompidou Center The Centre Pompidou (), more fully the (), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of ...

. Christo wanted to work "beyond the exhibition." It was the first work in their signature style since Jeanne-Claude's death in 2009. The work was self-financed through sales of project documentation, including drawings and models. The final cost was about 14 million Euros ($16.54 million). Governmental approval came quickly in comparison to the waits for their previous projects. Initially slated to run for two weeks in April 2020, the work was first delayed until September 2020 to accommodate kestrel falcons nesting in the monument during the spring. On 31 May 2020, Christo died, and

France 24 France 24 ( in French) is a French state-owned publicly funded international news television network based in Paris. Its channels, broadcast in French, English, Arabic and Spanish, are aimed at the overseas market. Based in the Paris suburb ...

announced that the project would resume with Christo's plans' integrity. After further delays due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, it finally debuted in September 2021. ''L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped'', was one of their most significant works, with 25,000 square meters of recyclable, silver-blue

polypropylene Polypropylene (PP), also known as polypropene, is a thermoplastic polymer used in a wide variety of applications. It is produced via chain-growth polymerization from the monomer Propene, propylene. Polypropylene belongs to the group of polyolefin ...

fabric fastened with 3,000 meters of red rope. Overall preparation of the project took about three months, while installation occurred over a single day. Throughout the installation and removal processes, the eternal flame alongside remembrance ceremonies for the tomb of the unknown soldiers was never disturbed. Over the weekend, the display was up for viewing, and the city closed the immediately surrounding roads for safe observation and photo opportunities; however, selfie sticks were not allowed.

Concept

The direct concept behind the wrapping is not explicit; however, scholars have theories as to Christo and Jeanne-Claude's intentions. Christo went to art school in Bulgaria under a communist government. This restricted many opportunities through his art and education, so people believed the wrapping of monuments represented freedom. Christo also opposed the widespread notion that a tremendous honor is sacrificing oneself for their country. Covering a monument that represents the tomb of unknown soldiers may have been a public challenge to this notion. Napoleon originally commissioned the structure, and King Louis XVIII later took it over to commemorate controversial portions of French history. The coverage of the arch may have been to denounce a history that is shameful for many citizens. File:Arc de Triomphe being prepared for Christo wrapping.jpg, The Arc de Triomphe being prepared for wrapping File:L' Arc de Triomphe empaqueté J-6 (Paris) (51467901335).jpg, South-western facade of the Arc de Triomphe (

Avenue Kléber The Avenue Kléber () is an avenue in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France, one of the twelve avenues that converge on the Place Charles de Gaulle. It was named after Jean Baptiste Kléber, a French general during the French Revolutionary W ...

) being wrapped

Public reaction

There was a mixed public opinion. In an interview with the ''Harvard Gazette'', psychologist

Ellen Winner Ellen Winner is a psychologist and a professor at Boston College. She specializes in psychology of art. Winner graduated from the Putney School in 1965 and received a PhD in developmental psychology from Harvard University in 1978. She collabora ...

spoke about the psychological reasoning behind these mixed opinions. On the one hand, the wrapped monument creates a newfound understanding of the structure's immense size. Conceptual art can be confusing for many people provoking curiosity and thought towards its intentions, as they are not explicit. Disapproval was commonly rooted in those who believed it was wrong to cover such an architecturally creative and well-known structure.

References

External links

''L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped'' on Christojeanneclaude.net
{{Portal bar, Visual arts, France 2021 sculptures Installation art works Public art in France Outdoor sculptures in Paris Works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude Arc de Triomphe Works published posthumously

Planning and execution

Concept

Public reaction

References

Further reading

External links