Christo's posthumous project in Paris

One year after the death of Bulgarian artist Christo (1935-2020), Paris inaugurates his latest project: L'Arc de Triomphe, wrapped or, what is the same, the “packaging” of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Located on Place de l'Etoile, at the highest point of the Champs Elysées, this intervention It is the culmination of a long dream of almost 60 years about the lives of Christo and his wife and artistic collaborator, Jeanne-Claude (1935 – 2009), who, three years after meeting in 1961, began creating works of art for public spaces and ended up “enveloping” entire buildings and even natural landscapes.

When Christo arrived in Paris in 1958 as a political refugee, an aristocratic French family sheltered him in a small utility room on Avenue Foch, overlooking the Arc de Triomphe, and he has been drawn to the monument ever since. He used to joke, saying, “I have fun in the Monet way. I will draw the Arc de Triomphe at different times of the day.” In 1962, he made a photomontage of the wrapped Arc de Triomphe and, in 1988, a collage. The idea for this project was recovered in 2017, coinciding with the exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Paris! organized by the Center Pompidou, in 2020.

Finally, this “packaging” will be a reality. The Arc de Triomphe is already wrapped in 25,000 square meters of recyclable silver-blue polypropylene fabric and 3,000 meters of recyclable red polypropylene rope. It will be the largest work of public art in the world in 2021 but you can only enjoy it for 16 days, from Saturday, September 18th to Sunday, October 3rd. “It will be like a living object that will move with the wind and reflect light. With its mobile folds, the surface of the monument will become sensual. People will want to play at the Arc de Triomphe. It will give France an image of audacity”, explained Christo in 2020.

So that visitors can enjoy the Arc de Triomphe, the Place de l'Etoile will be exceptionally pedestrianized during the three weekends of its presentation to the public. Furthermore, the Champs-Élysées avenue will remain closed to traffic on Sunday, September 19th and Sunday, October 3rd, with exclusive use for pedestrians.

The complex operation of enveloping this emblematic 50 meter high and 45 meter wide arch, a classified and protected historical monument, commissioned by Napoleon to commemorate the victory in the battle of Austerlitz, began on July 15th. Everything was done according to Christo's wishes by his team, in collaboration with the Center for National Monuments (CMN), which oversees public monuments, and with the support of the Center Pompidou and Paris City Hall. The entire process was carried out under the direction of Vladimir Yavachev, director of the Arc de Triomphe project and nephew of Christo and Jeanne-Claude. “I started working with them when I was 17 years old. I liked it so much that it became my life. I never wanted to do anything else,” says Vladimir Yavachev, who continues: “As Christo liked to say, 'Our projects are alive', and today the Arc de Triomphe is coming to life. We were able to do this project because Christo approved all the visual and artistic aspects over two years and until the end of his life. This project is 100% Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It was his wish for this to happen, even after he left. We are simply realizing his idea.” And he concludes: “This project, for which they thought they would never obtain the necessary authorization, is, in a way, a monument to the life and work that Christo and Jeanne-Claude created together in Paris and in the world, which has always exceeded the limits as possible”

The Arc de Triomphe is one of Christo's last two projects, along with the Mastaba in Abu Dhabi.

14 million euros without aid

the project that It costs 14 million euros and, like all of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's projects, they received no public funding or sponsorship. It is entirely self-financed by the Estate of Christo and Jeanne Claude, through the sale of Christo's original works, including preparatory studies, drawings and collagesmodels, works from the 1950s and 1960s and lithographs. “Our work of art is a cry for freedom”, said the artist, who systematically rejected sponsorships, subsidies, voluntary work and all forms of commercialization. “To maintain this absolute freedom, we cannot be forced on anyone,” he said. His original works guaranteed this artistic independence and preserved it until his last breath.

It will be the second public art project in Paris, where they spent seven years of intense creation (1958-1964), when they moved to New York, the city where they remained until the end of their lives. The first was the “packaging” of Le Pont Neuf, which took ten years to complete, from 1975 to 1985. Anne Hidalgo, mayor of Paris, states: “Thirty-five years after the Pont-Neuf project, one of the most Christo and Jeanne-Claude's ambitious plans will see the light, the Arc de Triomphe will be closed in accordance with Christo's wishes to emphasize this symbolic monument of our capital and our history. More than a year after Christo's death, Paris continues the work of this great artist. It is an opportunity to thank him and defend our attachment to contemporary creation.”

Philippe Bélaval, President of the Center for National Monuments, adds: “It will be an event with global resonance, and the Center for National Monuments is pleased to make it possible. After two difficult years, heritage and artistic creation come together to offer the public an unforgettable moment of shared joy.” With the aim of preserving the integrity of the Arc de Triomphe monument, all assembly and disassembly operations at the Arc de Triomphe were subject to scientific and technical monitoring by teams from the Ministry of Culture. The Eternal Flame, in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe, will continue to burn throughout this time.

At the same time, from September 18th to October 3rd a historic exhibition will take place at Sotheby's Paris The last Christ which brings together and offers for sale the last 25 drawings of Christ on the Arc de Triomphe made before the engineering firms his team works with began adapting them, and which come from Christo's estate and have never been on the market. An exhibition that explores Christo as a master of pastel and crayon, but also of collage how he juxtaposes maps, architectural plans or samples of the fabric used to wrap the monument in his drawings. It is this multimedia approach that reflects his unique genius, and his warm and full of personality. joy of living.

Sale of drawings at Sotheby's

Each of these 25 works, whose prices vary from 150,000 to 2.5 million euroswill be available for private sale and the proceeds will benefit both the project L'Arc de Triomphe, wrapped as well as the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, created to safeguard the legacy of artists for future generations. Simon Shaw, vice-president of Sotheby's Paris, explains: “Christo's original works demonstrate the extraordinary imagination and technical verve of an artist who dreamed the impossible and made it unforgettable” and concludes: “In 1995, the Wrapped up Reichstag it became a symbol of German reunification, a milestone for the city's transformation, representing the rise of an entire country. The installation, the gatesin New York's Central Park gave the city a renaissance in 2005 after it was paralyzed by shock following the devastating 9/11 terrorist attacks. L'Arc de Triomphe, wrapped Not only will it commemorate the lives of two artists, but it will also be the illuminating silver torch, a symbol of reopening and newfound freedom.”

Finally, the city of Paris, with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies, pays them yet another tribute, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Projects Realized, a photographic exhibition through 20 of the most emblematic projects carried out by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, over a period of 60 years. The exhibition, from September 3rd to October 2nd, is free on the banks of the Seine.

For those who cannot go to Paris, the Guillermo de Osma gallery, in Madrid, offers a great opportunity with a tribute to these artists: the exhibition Christo and Jeanne-Claude. 1960-70, which brings together more than a dozen of his historical projects.

As a final reflection, like Christo: “In life, and especially in art, there are many things that only come with time and the desire to reach the end.”