L’ARC DE TRIOMPHE, WRAPPED

This extraordinary work, of extremely rare availability on the international market, bears witness to one of the most iconic and poetically powerful projects conceived by Christo Javacheff: the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, realized posthumously in 2021 according to his wishes and preparatory drawings. The work presented here, dated 2020, belongs to the final design phase and is an emblematic example of the artist’s creative methodology, in which drawing, photography, collage and material sampling converge into a single vision.

The majestic project of L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped represents the culmination of an idea conceived by Christo and Jeanne-Claude as early as the early 1960s, the intervention temporarily transformed one of the most famous monuments in the world into an ephemeral sculpture, wrapped in 25,000 square meters of recyclable silvery-blue fabric and 3,000 meters of red rope, the act of “wrapping” does not conceal, but reveals: by removing the monument from its habitual image, Christo invites the viewer to rediscover its pure form, its volumes, its monumentality and its relationship with the urban space.

This work on rigid cardboard, cm 35 x 39, is conceived as a refined composite project, the photograph by Wolfgang Volz, Christo’s long-time collaborator, provides the real and documentary basis of the Arc de Triomphe set within the urban context of Place de l’Étoile – Charles de Gaulle.

Upon this image the artist intervenes with pencil and wax crayon, tracing lines, shading and design marks that simulate the draping of the fabric and the tension of the ropes, the red and blue lines are not mere chromatic accents: they represent the structural study, the articulation of surfaces, the analysis of anchoring points and of monumental proportions.

Fundamental is the presence of the original fabric swatch applied to the work, this material fragment is not a simple decorative element, but an actual sample of the material intended for the intervention on an urban scale, within it is concentrated Christo’s attention to the physicality of the work: the quality of reflected light, the response to the wind, the texture perceptible from near and afar, alongside it, the map of Place de l’Étoile emphasizes the centrality of spatial and logistical planning, recalling how every project by Christo was the result of years of engineering studies, administrative authorizations and complex technical calculations.

For Christo, planning was not a secondary preliminary moment, but an integral part of the work itself, the preparatory drawings were sold in order to finance the works entirely, thus guaranteeing the artist’s absolute independence from sponsors or institutions, this method renders each project on paper an autonomous work, charged with historical and conceptual value as well as aesthetic significance, within it one can discern the original idea, the visionary tension and the meticulous organization that precede realization.

L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped is a tribute to temporality and memory. The intervention, intended to last only sixteen days, transformed a permanent symbol into a collective ephemeral experience, this 2020 work therefore encapsulates not only a project, but a dream pursued for over sixty years, brought to completion with coherence and determination.

Extremely rare and virtually unobtainable on the market, this composition on rigid cardboard constitutes a precious testimony to Christo’s poetics: an art that dialogues with architecture, with the city and with history, celebrating creative freedom and the power of imagination on a monumental scale.