Christo

Christo (b.1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria). He left Bulgaria in 1956, first to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and then escaped to Vienna, Austria, in 1957, then moved to Geneva, Switzerland. In 1958, Christo went to Paris, where he met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon, who became his wife and life partner in the creation of monumental environmental works of art. Jeanne-Claude passed away on November 18, 2009. Christo died on May 31, 2020 at his home in New York City, where he lived for 56 years.

From early wrapped objects to monumental outdoor projects, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art transcended the traditional bounds of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Their best known works were: Wrapped Coast near Sydney (1968–69), Valley Curtain in Colorado (1970–72), Running Fence in California (1972–76), Surrounded Islands in Miami (1980–83), The Pont Neuf Wrapped in Paris (1975–85), The Umbrellas in Japan and California (1984–91), Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin (1971–95), The Gates in New York’s Central Park (1979–2005), The Floating Piers at Italy’s Lake Iseo (2014–16), and The London Mastaba on London’s Serpentine Lake (2016–18).

Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s team completed L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, Paris, 1961–2021, and then turned their focus on finishing the artists’ only permanent, large-scale public artwork: The Mastaba, started in 1977 and still in progress.