L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped...
6:25 p.m.11/08/21 - Christo and Jeanne-Claude's postmortem work overshadowed Paris this fall. L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped consists of a recyclable blue polypropylene mesh tied with ropes that completely covers the monument. With this action, the couple takes art out of the museum, as they did on previous occasions: remember that the first wrapped monument was a classical sculpture of a nude woman in the Villa Borghese in Rome, leaving the forms hidden by plastic and plastic free to the imagination.
But let's go a little further… Christo and Jeanne-Claude conceived the project of the mummification of the Arc de Triomphe (1806-36), a monument that Napoleon dedicated to his imperial army and his own megalomania, sixty years ago but it was finally carried out when both were already deceased (Christo passed away on May 31, 2020 and Jeanne-Claude on November 18, 2009). As you know past civilizations buried their dead with their most precious possessions and also wrapped their bodies. This is why this installation is both sad and festive for us. The 25 thousand square meters of fabric and the 3000 meters of rope are an allegory to the lives of the artists. And if we think about the last two years, in which face-masks and social distance became a reality, then it can also be a symbol of our own mortality. Christo and Jeanne-Claude remind us that life is short, beauty is ephemeral and everything comes to an end.
L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1961-2021)
París
But at the same time, with its military symbols completely veiled, the unmistakable silhouette of the monument can be seen, from afar, like a ghostly figure that still maintains a captivating elegance, becoming an anonymous architectural mass that looks at us from five avenues.
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