Pic(k) of the week 39: THE LAST CHRISTO - L' Arc de Triomphe Wrapped, Paris

Christo Vladimirof Javacheff and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, were an artist couple known for their large scale, site specific environmental installations all over the world. Three of the more famous installations by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were the wrapped Reichstag in Berlin, Pont Neuf wrapped in Paris and The Gates in New York city's Central Park; all art works which typically only remain in place for a couple of weeks. 

Three years after they first met in the late fifties, Christo and Jeanne-Claude started thinking about wrapping a large public building. At that time Bulgarian born Christo, was living in a small space close to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; a building he always was attracted to. In 1962, he started playing with the idea to wrap this famous Parisian monument but the idea stalled a few years later after he realized the project was probably too bold to ever be approved. 

After his wife passed in 2009, he kept on working on new projects but also kept coming back to the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe monument. In 2017 he finally applied for formal approval for the project and was very surprised to actually receive it! 

Initially planned for 2019, first a few falcons nesting on top the of monument delayed the project and then there was of course the pandemic. On September 18 2021, after several weeks of first protecting and then wrapping up the building, the art installation was complete. In total 25.000 square meter recyclable silver blue polypropylene and 3000m of recyclable red robe were used. The colors emulate the French flag. It can be seen for a few more days till October 03rd 2021. 

Like all of his other projects, the 22 million USD project was funded entirely by Christo and his own foundation, through the sales of his drawings, scale models, collages and studies. 

Unfortunately Christo didn't got to see the finished project, as he unfortunately passed away at age 85 in New York, on May 31st, 2020.  

I shot a series of images, of which some can be seen in my PARIS gallery, but the diptych below is one that stands out for me. The intend was to keep some mystique in the images. 

Image details:

  • Fujifilm X-T3 with XF50 f2.0 lens
  • RAW file development in Lightroom Classic 
Another project that Christo was working on at the time of his death, was the largest man made sculpture to be built near Liwa in the Abu Dhabi desert.  A total of 410.000 colourful oil barrels would make a 492ft tall "mastaba". Given Christo is no longer with us, it is not clear if the project will ever be built... More info can be found here.

Remember: "Our work is a scream of freedom" - Christo. 

BJORN

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