Last year, the art world lost a significant figure: Christo, whose work played out on the grandest of scales, died at 84. At the time of his death, several of his projects remained in the works, and now one of the highest-profile ones has an opening scheduled. That would be his planned wrapping of the iconic Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which is now slated to be up in the fall.
L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped will open on September 18 and close on October 3, reports The Art Newspaper.
The installation was originally scheduled to open last year, but the pandemic resulted in it being delayed.
That being said, the project itself has been in the works for even longer; The Art Newspaper reports that Christo and longtime collaborator and wife Jeanne-Claude first discussed wrapping the Arc in 1962. At the time, the couple was living in an apartment not far from the monument.
The plan, approved by the Parisian government in 2017, will require 25,000 square meters of fabric and 7,000 meters of rope. The installation will also require a vast amount of labor, including 12 weeks of around the clock work. For those able to take in the transformed structure in person, it should be an unforgettable sight.
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