The Arc de Triomphe will be shrouded in 25,000 square meters of recyclable polypropylene fabric from now until October 3. The large-scale installation is a project 60 years in the making for the late artist Christo Vladimirov Javacheff.
Christo, who passed away last year, was one half of one of the world's most famous artistic collaborations — Christo and Jeanne-Claude. "In Paris, Christo and Jeanne-Claude dreamed of packaging the @ArcDeTriomphe," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said via Twitter. She thanked the teams who brought that dream to life — as well as "this couple whose works will remain among the most outstanding of our era."
The couple met in Paris and soon began transforming public spaces into their now-famous works of art in 1961. According to NPR, Christo became fascinated by the Arc de Triomphe when he lived near the monument and produced a photomontage showing what it might look like wrapped up. According to the artist's website, "the project will finally be concretized."
As Christo’s longstanding ambition to wrap the Arc de Triomphe is posthumously realized in Paris, Virgil Abloh explains how Christo’s conceptual art will inspire the next generation to believe anything is possible. Watch him break it down below.
