Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation Donates Art to Two Paris Museums

The Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation, which manages the legacy of the iconic artist duo who wrapped large-scale buildings in fabric, has donated 14 works of art to two Paris museums.

The artist’s connection to the city is well documented. In 2021, a year after Christo’s death at the age of 84, the artists’ 1962 plan to wrap the Arc de Triomphe with 25,000 square meters of metallic blue polypropylene fabric and red rope was finally realized after nearly 60 years. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009, also wrapped the Pont-Neuf, the century-old bridge across the Seine, as well as the surrounding sidewalks and embankments, in orange fabric in 1985. (French street artist JR plans to re-cover the Pont Neuf this summer in tribute to Christo and Jeanne-Claude.)

The Carnavalet Museum, dedicated to the history of the city of Paris, will receive a collage related to an unrealized project in which Christo and Jeanne-Claude proposed to wrap several buildings near the Place de la Concorde, including the Madeleine Church and the Hotel Marine, as well as three silkscreens and a lithograph depicting the 1961-62 installation. Iron Curtain – Oil Barrel Wall in Visconti Street, Paris; the wrapped Arc de Triomphe and Pont Neuf; and Public Empaqueté Building, Project (Paris Military Academy)1991. The newly acquired works will be exhibited at the Carnavalet Museum this fall.

Meanwhile, the Museum of Modern Art in Paris will receive seven silkscreen prints related to projects in Kassel, Minneapolis, New York and Rome; scale models are Empaquetage 5,600 cubic meters, Documenta 4, Kasselwhich included the erection of a 280-foot-tall inflatable column in Karlsaue Park during Documenta 4 in 1968; and packages on luggage rack (1962), an early free-standing sculpture that features a wrapped object tied to a metal frame.

Christo, who was born in Bulgaria, met Jeanne-Claude, who was born in Morocco, in Paris in 1958. They lived there until 1964, when the two moved to New York.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said in a statement that she was “delighted” by the foundation’s gift to the city. “The people of Paris have not forgotten the contribution these two artists made to their city when they wrapped the Pont Neuf in 1985. It was an extremely simple gesture whose splendor continues to amaze us.”