L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped by Christo Vladimiroff Javacheff and his wife Jeanne-Claude
What is wrapped with ?
25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric in silvery blue, and with 3,000 meters of red rope.
Why is this an homage to Christo and Jeanne-Claude ? (and who are they?)
Christo and Jeanne-Claude are artists noted for their large-scale, site-specific environmental installations. He (from Bulgaria) and she (from Morocco) met in 1950 in Paris and stayed together ever since, in love and work : a real creative couple.
They originally planned to wrap this Parisian monument 60years ago.
Now their project is reality thanks to the Centre des Monuments Nationaux with support of the City of Paris and The Centre Pompidou.
Christo died in May 2020 and his wife and artistic counterpart in 2009, but they planned for their playful artworks to continue afeter they were gone. Before he died, Christo said "I want you to know that many of these projects can be built without me. Everything is already written"