Late artists Christo and wife Jeanne-Claude’s L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped is currently being installed in Paris. This project is finally being realized 60 years after the pair’s original conception of the idea. 

The iconic monument is being wrapped with almost 25,000 square meters of silvery-blue fabric made of recyclable polypropylene and 3,000 meters of red rope. Over the course of six decades, Christo and Jeanne-Claude have worked on an array of similar works, including a wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont Neuf in Paris, and a 1.5-mile-long section of an Australian coastline. 

Inspiration for L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped came when Christo became enamored by the structure while living in a nearby rented room in 1961. A year later, he made a photomontage of the planned project, and fast forward to 1988, he revisited the idea and created a collage of the work.

The installation is being realized in partnership with the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and the City of Paris, along with support from the Centre Pompidou. However, funding for the project comes entirely from the Estate of Christo V. Javacheff, through the sale of the artist’s works from the 1950s and 1960s.

L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped will be on view for 16 days from Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021. A 24/7 live stream of the installation can be viewed above or via this YouTube link.