Workers on raised platforms prepare the "L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" in Paris.
In Paris, the Wrapped Arc de Triomphe Is a Polarizing Package
The artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude thrived on large-scale works that transformed public space and inspired controversy. This posthumous project is no exception.
Thousands gathered on the Champs-Élysées on Sept. 18 to see one of the great memorials of Europe transformed: Over the last two months, some 1,200 workers draped nearly 270,000 square feet of shimmering fabric over the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
A final project for France by the late artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped drew throngs of art lovers and gawkers — along with a few critics. French journalist Christine Kelly, host of the prime-time news program Face à l’Info, posted a photo of the wrapped monument with a pithy critique: J’ai honte. Désolée. (“I am ashamed. Sorry.”) That viral tweet sparked a massive debate over the so-called “shame of France” even as crowds snapping photos swarmed all 12 radiating avenues that terminate in Place Charles de Gaulle, where the Arc enjoys pride of place.