The packaged Pont Neuf of Christo and Jeanne-Claude is about to make its great comeback From September, the first bridge of Paris will be packaged and accompanied by a free retrospective on the career of the couple

On September 22, 1985, artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the oldest bridge in Paris, the Pont Neuf, in 41,800 m² of fabric, secured with 13 kilometers of rope and 12 tons of steel cables, thanks to the expertise of 12 engineers and 300 specialized workers who collaborated with the artists. “I wanted to transform it, to turn it from an architectural object, an inspiration for artists, into a work of art itself,” Christo explained at the time. “I wanted it to become a sculpture for the first time, but an ephemeral sculpture.” Forty years later, Pont Neuf will be wrapped once again like a present on December 24, in tribute to these two artists who turned the capital into an open-air museum. The wrapping won’t be the only tribute to the couple—a free open-air exhibition will also be installed along the banks of the Seine until October 30, while a symbolic city square will be renamed in their honor. And the retrospective won’t stop in 2025: starting next summer, artist JR will unveil a project inspired by the two artists, giving Pont Neuf a new visual identity.

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It all began in Paris for the young mixed couple—he from Bulgaria and she from Morocco. Christo first set foot in the capital in 1958, beginning his career as an artist with classical portraits of high-society women. Soon, within the intimacy of his studio, he was influenced by the progressive Parisian art scene and began to appropriate everyday objects, stripping them of their function and preserving them by wrapping them. This artistic choice led to his first notable works: Wrapped Cans, Wrapped Bottles, and Packages—a series in which he explored concealment, transformation, and materiality, themes that would define the monumental projects he would later create with Jeanne-Claude. Over the years, the duo began thinking bigger, moving from small objects to colossal buildings like the Pont Neuf in 1975 or even the Arc de Triomphe in 1961. The exhibition will therefore explore the monumental works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude designed for the French capital—both realized and unrealized—and will be accompanied by a free audio guide available via the Bloomberg Connects app. Although the exact opening date has yet to be confirmed, it’s already clear that Paris will experience a wrapped autumn.