Christo’s Grande Finalé

On September 18, 2021, Arc de Triomphe—the iconic arch at one end of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris—is set to be perhaps the final temporary installation by Christo and Jean-Claude. Christo passed away on May 31st, just two weeks before his 85th birthday, but not before working out every last detail of the Arc de Triomphe project. Jean-Claude his long-time companion and collaborator passed in 2009.

He was also involved in the making of  an exhibition running at the Pompidou Center in Paris which focuses on the years when he lived and worked in the French capital—his beginnings as an artist.

The idea for the Arc de Triomphe came up three years ago when the Pompidou Center asked Christo if he could design an outdoor installation to coincide with the exhibition. Christo said the only thing he wanted to do in Paris was to realize his lifelong dream of wrapping the Arc de Triomphe. The Pompidou management helped him secure the necessary permissions, including the go-ahead from President Macron of France.

Wrapping the Arc will require 270,000 square feet of polypropylene fabric covered with pulverized aluminum to give it a silvery blue sheen. It will be fastened with roughly two miles of red rope in a subtle suggestion of the colors of the French flag. 

The exhibition at Pompidou Center is ruling now through October 19th. The temporary installation at Arc de Triomphe will run September 18 through October 3, 2021.

Posted by: TAWD on July 14, 2020

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