Le grand art

No tickets or reser­va­tions were required to admire and touch the artwork.

An esti­mated 6 million people viewed Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961 – 2021 during its 16 days from September 18 through October 3, 2021. The project, realized in part­ner­ship with the Centre des monu­ments nati­onaux (CMN), in coor­di­na­tion with the City of Paris and with the support of Centre Pompidou, wrapped the Arc de Triomphe monu­ment in 25,000 square meters of recy­clable silvery blue fabric and 3,000 meters of recy­clable red rope.

The artwork was free and acces­sible to the public, no tickets or reser­va­tions were required to view and touch the tempo­rary work of art. The artwork of Christo and Jeanne-Claude created an excep­tional enthu­siasm: six million visi­tors came to admire L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped”.

Like all of Christo and Jeanne-Clau­de’s past projects, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped received no public funds or spon­sor­ships, and was enti­rely funded through the sale of original works of art by Christo, inclu­ding prepa­ra­tory studies and collages, models, artworks from the 1950s and 1960s and litho­graphs. The cost of the project was appro­xi­m­ately 14,000,000 Euros (16 million USD). The cost includes plan­ning, engi­nee­ring, buil­ding, staf­fing, main­ten­ance, and removal of the work of art.

Of the 6 million visi­tors, an esti­mated 3.2 million were tourists. This means an appro­xi­mate 235 million euros in tourism revenue during the 16 days.

More than 1,200 workers contri­buted to the project, inclu­ding manu­fac­tu­rers, engi­neers, buil­ding contrac­tors, onsite moni­tors, and secu­rity personnel. The cons­truc­tion team was made up of 140 indi­vi­duals with 95 clim­bers, who unfolded the fabric panels on each of the four facades of the Arc de Triomphe from its rooftop terrace.

Over 350 welcome moni­tors greeted visi­tors to the artwork and handed out free fabric samples throug­hout its 16 days. The majo­rity of moni­tors were from France, however, they repre­sented appro­xi­m­ately 20 diffe­rent natio­na­li­ties, and languages spoken inclu­ding French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Bulga­rian, Chinese, and Japa­nese.

Accor­ding to the Paris Conven­tion and Visi­tors Bureau, an esti­mated 6 million Pari­sians and visi­tors from around the world expe­ri­enced L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961–2021 in person and explored the area outside of its peri­meter, inclu­ding shops and restau­rants. Of these 6 million, it is esti­mated that 3.2 million were visi­tors (tourists staying in the area or day-trip­pers who spent several hours near to the monu­ment) and 1.1 million were prima­rily moti­vated to see the artwork, gene­ra­ting an esti­mated 235 million euros in tourism revenue during their stays.

The Place de l’Etoile was closed to car traffic for the three weekends of the exhi­bi­tion and was reserved enti­rely for pede­strians.

To enable visi­tors to enjoy L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961–2021 safely and close up, the Place de l’Etoile was closed to vehi­cular traffic and pede­stria­nized for the three weekends of the display. This excep­tional closure to traffic was orga­nized with the support of the City of Paris and the Préfec­ture de Police, and enabled over 1.4 million Pari­sians and visi­tors to enjoy the artwork car free thanks to the pede­strian peri­meter during the weekends.

Deinstal­la­tion of L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961–2021, began on October 4 and ended by November 10, 2021. During this time, the inte­riors and the pano­r­amic terrace of the monu­ment, managed by the CMN, remained open to the public.

As done in all past projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, the mate­rials used to create L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped will be reused, upcy­cled, and recy­cled.