FREITAG, 3. JULI 2026 
This week in La Gazette Drouot: Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Pont-Neuf Project Up for Auction
C reated in preparation for the Pont-Neuf packaging project in 1985, this work by the artist couple remained in Nancy Varenne-Brunot’s collection for forty years before it was dispersed.
By Vanessa Schmitz-Grucker
Read the full version of "Christo and Jeanne-Claude: The Pont-Neuf Project Up for Auction" in La Gazette Drouot
From September 22 to October 14, 1985, after nearly ten years of administrative procedures, technical studies, and negotiations with French authorities, Christo and Jeanne-Claude transformed the Pont-Neuf into a monumental installation.
Paris’s oldest bridge disappeared beneath some 40,000 square meters of mineral-colored polyamide fabric, specially developed to match the tones of the limestone from the Île-de-France region. Held in place by more than thirteenkilometers of rope and several metric tons of chains, this installation covered the twelvearches, sidewalks, parapets, streetlights, and the monument’s projections, while still allowing pedestrians and cars to pass through.
Le Pont Neuf Wrapped, Project for Paris, a mixed-media work from 1985 combining drawing, oil pastel, pastel, and chalk on cardboard mounted on panels, is one of the works produced by Christo and Jeanne-Claude during the project’s design phase.
These drawings made it possible to refine the visual solutions, study the effects of the drapery on the architecture, and finalize choices regarding composition, lighting, and color before executing the work on a monumental scale.
Paris’s oldest bridge disappeared beneath some 40,000 square meters of mineral-colored polyamide fabric, specially developed to match the tones of the limestone from the Île-de-France region. Held in place by more than thirteenkilometers of rope and several metric tons of chains, this installation covered the twelvearches, sidewalks, parapets, streetlights, and the monument’s projections, while still allowing pedestrians and cars to pass through.
Le Pont Neuf Wrapped, Project for Paris, a mixed-media work from 1985 combining drawing, oil pastel, pastel, and chalk on cardboard mounted on panels, is one of the works produced by Christo and Jeanne-Claude during the project’s design phase.
These drawings made it possible to refine the visual solutions, study the effects of the drapery on the architecture, and finalize choices regarding composition, lighting, and color before executing the work on a monumental scale.
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