An icon is ‘Wrapped’

To celebrate World Art Day, we’re taking a look at one of the greatest triumphs (pun intended) of public art—last fall’s ‘L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped,’ by the late artists Christo and wife Jeanne-Claude. Completed and staged 16 months after Christo’s death at age 84, ‘Wrapped’ was the fruition of an idea 60 years in the making. On view for 16 days from Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021, the project required 269,000 square feet of recyclable silvery-blue polypropylene fabric that completely covered the monument. The fabric glistened and glimmered with the changing light of Paris. The pleated fabric was held fast to the arch by nearly three kilometres of red rope.
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