Christo and Jeanne-Claude were a pioneering artist duo renowned for their monumental, site-specific environmental installations that temporarily transformed public spaces around the world. Working collaboratively from 1961 until Jeanne-Claude’s death in 2009, the pair employed materials such as fabric, rope, and barrels to create large-scale artworks that redefined the boundaries between sculpture, architecture, and landscape. These ambitious projects—often years or even decades in the making—were ephemeral by design, existing only for days or weeks before being dismantled, their materials recycled, and the sites returned to their original state.

Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born in 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, and studied at the National Academy of Art in Sofia before fleeing to the West. In Paris, he met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (b. Casablanca, also 1935), beginning both a personal and creative partnership that would span decades. The couple moved to New York City in 1964, making it their home base.

Early works like Surfaces d’Empaquetage and Wrapped Objects explored themes of concealment, transformation, and materiality. Their large-scale interventions began with Wall of Oil Barrels – The Iron Curtain (Paris, 1962), followed by Wrapped Coast (Australia, 1968–69), Running Fence (California, 1972–76), and Surrounded Islands (Miami, 1980–83). Their 2005 installation, The Gates, transformed New York’s Central Park with 7,503 saffron-colored fabric panels.

Later projects included The London Mastaba (2018) and L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (realized posthumously in 2021), honoring both artists’ legacy.

Each project, financed entirely through the sale of Christo’s preparatory drawings and models, emphasized freedom, impermanence, and the profound impact of collective experience. Their enduring vision reimagined the role of public art, transforming everyday landscapes into moments of wonder, contemplation, and shared humanity.

“ The important thing to understand is that all of our projects have a nomadic quality, things in transition, going away, they will be gone forever. And this quality is an essential part of all our work. They are airy—not heavy like stone, steel, or concrete blocks. They are passing through. „

—Christo