• The work will be visible from September 18 to October 3, 2021.

  • 25,000 m2 of recyclable bluish silver polypropylene fabric and 3,000


    meters of red cord made from the same material will be used to cover the entire Arc de Triomphe.

  • The work, entirely financed by the sale of original works by the artist, is carried out by his team, in partnership with the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN).

A huge gift package. This is the image that will soon be reflected by one of the capital's most emblematic monuments. Right in the middle of Place de l'Etoile, between cranes and scaffolding, the site launched by the artist Christo is continuing, metal structures enclosing block by block the Stone Arch. The chrysalis is taking shape, before its revelation to the public on September 18: the Arc de triomphe will be packed.

"The sun will be able to reflect on the canvas, the rays will dance, and the canvas will vibrate before our eyes", rejoices Bruno Cordeau, administrator of the Arc erected in 1836, from the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN).

“It will be a new image in our daily life.

Especially since the project has the humility to disappear on October 3.

We can only be a winner every time.

For sixteen days, everything will be covered with a 25,000 square meter canvas in silver polypropylene, wound with bright red ropes made from the same recyclable material.

A work entirely funded by the Christo Foundation

The idea germinated in 1962 in the mind of the late Christo V. Javacheff, Bulgarian artist naturalized American who left behind him and his companion Jeanne-Claude dozens of works packed around the world, from an Italian fountain in passing. by islets surrounded by roses off Florida. But the project materializes in 2020, the year of Christo's death, on the occasion of a retrospective exhibition on the work of the couple at the Pompidou Center. At that time, the packaging of the Pont-Neuf of 1985 is in everyone's mind, and in particular that of Laure Martin, president of the packaging project of the Arc de triomphe, who had met the artist. while she was still a student.

"It's very moving", launches the project manager, tears in her eyes.

“This is a popular work in the best sense of the word, because anyone can make it their own.

Besides, there is no symbol.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude refused to give meaning to their works.

Everyone is free to have their own interpretation.

»Amount of operations: 14 million euros, fully supported by the Christo V. Javacheff foundation, thanks to the sale of his original works, namely collages, preparatory drawings, but also models, or even works from the fifties and sixties and lithographs.

A time reserved for the ceremony of the unknown soldier

In this town where Christo Vladimiroff Javacheff met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon in 1958, time seems to have dilated: “People will be able to walk on the Place de l'Etoile, to admire the work of the tandem of 'artists. It will change from an environment that we think we know, like a place out of time, ”adds Bruno Cordeau. On site, 150 workers get down to work day and night, in partnership with the carpenters of Paris. The only stop is every evening, at 6:30 p.m., time of the ceremony of rekindling the flame of the unknown soldier.

As for the reason for postponing the construction site, it says a lot about Christo's personality: the bird protection league had alerted to the presence of kestrels, a species of protected bird, at the time nested on the monument. .

The creator had preferred to postpone what could well represent his ultimate legacy, the time for the species to leave the building.

"We miss him", sums up Laure Martin in a breath.

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  • Art

  • Champs-Elysees

  • Monument

  • Paris