Christo

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Christo

Basic Data

Since 1961 the married couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude worked together as an artist duo and realized projects together. They are best known for their large-format textile installations in public spaces, in which they temporarily transform buildings or landscape spaces into art objects.

Born on: 13 June 1935 (Christo und Jeanne-Claude)
Died on: 18 November 2009 (Jeanne-Claude), 31 May 2020 (Christo)
Nationality: Bulgarian (Christo) / French-Moroccan (Jeanne-Claude)
Studied at: National Academy of Art, Sofia; Vienna Academy of Fine Art (Christo); Tunis University (Jean-Claude)
Era: Post-war art
Stylistic direction: Object art, Environmental art

Christo Art For Sale

Christo Ponte Sant Angelo, Rome, Wrapped Print Serigraph

Price: $12,144

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Christo The Gates IV Poster Art Print Framed

Price: $134

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Christo The Gates XXIII (gross) Poster Art Print Framed

Price: $188

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Christo The Gates XIX Poster Art Print Framed

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Christo The Gates XXVI Poster Art Print Framed

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Christo The Gates XXXVII Poster Art Print Framed

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Christo The Gates XXIII Poster Art Print Framed

Price: $197

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Christo The Gates I (1990) Poster Art Print Framed

Price: $215

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Christo Over the River Poster Art Print Framed

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Christo The Gates Poster Art Print Framed

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Christo Print Over the River III Above

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Christo Over The Arkansas River XI Print

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Christo Wrapped Trees Nr.III Print

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Christo Wrapped Trees Nr.II Print

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Christo Serigraph Kunsthalle Bern wrapped

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More Christo artworks and editions

Christo Prices

Artist:	Title:	Price:	Type:	Size:	Edition:	Handsigned:	Numbered:	Date:
Christo	The Mastaba, 1240 Oil Barrels	3900 Euro	Original print	22.8 x 17.7 in	limited edition of 60	yes	yes	03.12.2019
Christo	Wrapped Bottle, Project for Kirchberg	3000 Euro	Original print	12.6 x 10.2 in	limited edition of 120	yes	yes	03.12.2019
Christo	Reichstag X	490 Euro	Handsigned print	27.6 x 19.7 in		yes	no	03.12.2019
Christo	Over the River III Above	price on request	Handsigned print	29.9 x 20.1 in		yes	no	03.12.2019
Christo	Wrapped Vestibule	590 Euro	Handsigned print	25.2 x 25.98 in		yes	no	03.12.2019
Christo	Reichstag VII	800 Euro	Handsigned print	27.56 x 39.37 in		yes	no	03.12.2019
Christo	Wrapped Trees Nr.II	700 Euro	Handsigned print	31.5 x 23.62 in		yes	no	03.12.2019

Biography

CHRISTO

Christo was born on 13 June 1935 as Christo Wladimirow Jawadesch in Gabrowo, Bulgaria, into a family that was highly interested in art. His mother was general secretary at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia until she married. At the age of six, Christo, whose talent was fostered by the family in his early years, received first painting and drawing lessons. During his teenage years, Christo experimented with large panels in his father's chemical factory. Chriso took up studies at the National Academy of Arts from 1953 to 1956 after the war. Afterwards, he travelled to Vienna via Prague, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Art for one semester. In March 1958, the young artist continued his journey to Paris. During his first years in Paris Christo visited many exhibitions and museums and introduced himself to the art of Joan Miró and Jean Dubuffet that had a lasting impact on him. After he had kept his head above water by painting portraits during the first years, Christo started to wrap objects - a step that was to become defining and crucial for his art. He first attracted attention with his artwork Verpackte Dosen und Flaschen that he wrapped in canvas soaked in resin, corded, and then treated with paste, varnish, sand and car paint. By doing so, he attracted renowned artist colleagues' attention, such as Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely who visited him in his atelier in Paris, for the first time.

JEANNE-CLAUDE

Jeanne-Claude was born on the same day as Christo, on 13 June 1935, in Casablanca. She spent her childhood with her father's family and her mother in France and North Africa. In 1952, she completed her studies in Latin and philosophy at the University of Tunis with honor and, subsequently, started to train as flight attendant at Air France. In October 1958, Jeanne-Claude met the young artist Christo, who came to make a portrait of her mother Précilda, in the house of her wealthy adoptive father, General Jacques de Guillebon. Shortly afterwards she left her husband, with whom she was married for only a couple of weeks, and entered into a relationship with Christo. Soon afterwards their son Cyril was born. In 1961, the couple started their first joint art project. In a street in Paris they built up a wall made of oil drums referring to the cruelty and inhumanity of the building of the Berlin Wall. The fact that Jeanne-Claude was - or partly still is - reduced to the role of an organiser or press spokeswoman or, at best, her partner's muse is due to an art historiography with a male connotation. In fact the couple's division of labour was, which both emphasised again and again, of symbiotic nature. The couple married on 28 November 1962.

RELOCATION TO NEW YORK AND LARGE-SCALE PROJECTS

In spring 1964, Jeanne-Claude and Christo relocated from Paris to New York. The couple had to live in the city illegally until they were granted a Green Card in 1967. In the subsequent time, the two artists' large-scale and spectacular projects made them known to a wider public. Christo and Jeanne-Claude designed their large-scale projects together and realised them independently in spite of the huge expenses. They neither accepted orders nor donations and subventions, but funded their auctions by selling drawings, prints and editions that display the planning status during the design phase continually.

Documenta IV und 5600 Cubicmeter Package

In 1968, Christo and Jeanne-Claude participated in the documenta IV in Kassel with a balloon with a volume of 5600 cubic metres. The couple recorded the elaborant process of the building, first failure, and re-building in a volume of photographs with the prosaic title 5600 cubicmeter package.

Wrapped Coast

In the following year, Jeanne-Claude and Christo covered together with more than 100 helpers a shoreline of the Australian coast. 93,000 square metres of artificial fabric and 56 kilometres of rope were installed in the course of this. After the couple's plans had been discussed controversially, the project was well received after its completion and established the artist couple's international renown.

Valley Curtain

In 1970, the preparations for the Valley Curtain project began. In a 400 metres broad valley in the Rocky Mountains in the US state Colorado the couple planned to span a curtain with a height of 111 metres. Wind and the crag caused the artist duo considerable problems, so that the curtain was tattered on the first attempt. In August 1972, they eventually managed to install the curtain successfully for a period of around two days.

Running Fence

In 1973, Christo was granted American citizenship. In the same year, the preparations for the project Running Fence began, which consisted of a fence made of more than five metres high panels that was supposed to run through the California landscape on a length of 40 kilometres. The project went along with significant legal and bureaucratic effort as well as considerable persuading from the artists, but could be finished in summer 1976.

Pont Neuf

Christo and Jeanne-Claude realised the by then most sensational project in Europe in their home in Paris. After negotiations with the Parisian Mayor Jacques Chirac that went on for 9 years, the artist couple got permission to wrap the oldest bridge in Paris, the famous Pont Neuf, in 1984. More than 40,000 square metres of sand-coloured polyamide fabric were utilised in the course of this; more than 3 million people visited the French capital during the project that lasted one month in order to attend this unique event.

Wrapped Reichstag

No project required as much persuading, diplomatic skills and unremitting preparations as the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin. In February 1994, the German Bundestag voted in favour of the project after long and partly heated debates. Not less than 100,000 square metres of fire-resistant polypropylene fabric as well as 16,500 metres of rope were used for the monumental wrapping project. More than 90 professional climbers and many more voluntary supporters helped the artist couple with building the elaborate construction. In June 1995, more than 5 million visitors visited the wrapped Reichstag in Berlin

Wrapped Trees

Three years after the wrapping of the Reichstag Christo and Jeanne-Claude realised their next spectacular large-scale project at the Fondation Beyeler park in Riehen near Basel: they covered 178 trees of the park with the help of silver-grey polyester fabric and thus created a shimmering, translucent sea of impressing aesthetic impact. In this case the couple funded their project mainly by selling editions, too. All materials were recycled.

The Gates

In 2005, the The Gates project at the Central Park in New York followed, which altogether consisted of 7503 gates that were draped with saffron panels. The expenses also amounted to enormous sums in this case - more than 21 million US dollars - which the artists brought together by selling a variety of preparatory artworks and former works. A more than thirty years lasting spadework was necessary for this project, too.

After Jeanne-Claude's death, who died on 18 November 2009 at the age of 74 years due to a cerebral bleeding in New York, Christo kept on supporting the realisation of large-scale wrapping projects around the world, which he now realises single-handedly.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's spectacular and large-scale projects are designed for the present and the volatility, but not for eternity. They only unfold their impact in corresponding images, photographs, films, sketches and collages as well as in the memories of the people who attended the projects. Therefore, their oeuvre stands out due to genuinely environmental aesthetics that purposely refrain from leaving an objective and thereby burden some heritage for prosperity.

L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped

Since the early 1960s Jeanne-Claude and Christo planned the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The project was postponed several times and could finally take place from September 18 to October 03, 2021. The realization cost about 14 million euros.

The 50-meter-high Parisian landmark at the Place de l'Etoile was wrapped with 25.000 square meters of recyclable fabric which shimmered silver-blue depending on the time of day and the incidence of light. The cover was lashed down with 3.000 meters of red rope. "It will be like a living object that comes alive in the wind and reflects the light. The folds will move, the surface of the monument will become sensual. People will want to touch the Arc de Triomphe," the artist explained.

"L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" expresses Christo's special relationship with Paris and is considered the last major project of the Bulgarian wrapping artist, who already passed away on May 31, 2020. The installation was completed under the care of his nephew Vladimir Yavachev and his team.

Projects

Past projects

2021 L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped – Paris, France
2018 The London Mastaba – London, United Kingdom
2016The Floating Pears – Iseosee, Italy
2013 Big Air Package – Gasometer, Oberhausen
2005 The Gates – New York
1998 Wrapped Trees – Riehen
1995 Wrapped Reichstag – Berlin
1991 The Umbrellas – Japan; USA
1985 The Pont Neuf Wrapped – Paris
1983 Sourrounded Islands – Miami, Florida
1978 Wrapped Walk Ways – Kansas City, Missouri
1976 Running Fence – Sanoma und Marin Counties, California
1974 Wrapped Roman Wall – Rome
1974 Ocean Front – Newport, Rhode Island
1972 Valley Curtain – Rifle, Colorado
1970 Wrapped Monuments – Milan
1969 Wrapped Museum of Contemporary Art – Chicago
1969 Wrapped Coast – Little Bay, Sydney
1968 5.600 cubicmeter Package – documenta IV, Kassel
1968 Wrapped Fountain – Spoleto
1968 Wrapped Medieval Tower – Spoleto
1968 Wrapped Kunsthalle – Bern
1966 42.390 Cubic Feet Package – Minneapolis, Minnesota
1962 Wall of Oil Barrels. The Iron Curtain – Paris
1961 Stacked Oil Barrels and Dockside Packages – Cologne

Exhibitions

Current exhibitions

20.04.2023 – 28.01.2024 No Feeling Is Final. The Skopje Solidarity Collection – Kunsthallte Wien Museumsquartier, Vienna.
25.08.2023 – 28.10.2023 Christo: Selected Works – Gagosian Gallery Basel.

Past exhibitions

2023 Fractured .23 – Plamen Art Foundation, Chicago,
2022 Oil: Beauty and Horror in the Petrol Age – Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg
2021 Extranjeros, en los Acervos del Museo - Museo de Arte del Tolima – MAT, Ibague
2020 Christo et Jeanne Claude - Paris! - Centre Pompidou, Paris
2020 Arte moderna e contemporanea - Antologia scelta 2021, Tornabuoni Arte, Florence
2020 Multiples, Inc., 1965-1992 - Marian Goodman Gallery, New York City
2020 Christo und Jeanne-Claude: Projects 1963-2020, PalaisPopulaire, Berlin
2020 The House of Opportunity – S.M.A.K. Ghent
2020 MEHR : WERT - Von der Heydt-Museum Wuppertal
2019 ACCROCHAGE - Galerie Boisserée, Cologne
2019 Michael Müller. "DEINE KUNST" The Conditions of Being Art (oder der Amateur) Dritte Fassung - Städtische Galerie Wolfsburg
2019 Making Art Public: 50 Years of Kaldor Public Art Projects - Art Gallery NSW, Sydney
2019 So wie wir sind 1.0 - Weserburg Bremen
2019 Christo. Femmes 1962-1968 - Musée Yves Saint Laurent Marrakech
2018 BLACK HOLE. Art and Materiality from Informal to Invisible - GAMeC Bergamo
2018 READYMADES BELONG TO EVERYONE - Swiss Institute, New York City
2017 The Everywhere Studio - ICA Miami
2017 Von Christo bis Kiefer. Die Collection Lambert, Avignon - Kunstmuseum Pablo Picasso Münster
2016 HINTER DEM VORHANG. - Kunstpalast, Dusseldorf.
2016 The Sonnabend Collection. Half a Century of European and American Art. Part 1 - Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto
2015 Von Hockney bis Holbein. Die Sammlung Würth in Berlin - Gropius Bau, Berlin
2015 Prints and Objects - Sofia City Art Gallery, Sofia
2015 The Tom Golden Collection - Loveland Museum, Loveland

Awards

2014 49st Theodor Heuss Award
2011 Member of the National Academy of Design
2006 AICA Award
2006 Vilcek Prize, New York

Films

Christo: Walking on Water, über die The Floating Piers Installation auf dem Iseosee, documentary by Andrey Paounov, Italy/Germany 2018. ’105.
Christo & Jeanne-Claude. Fünf Filme, Albert Maysles/David Maysles, USA 2007, ’282.
The Gates – Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Antonia Ferrera/Albert Maysles, USA 2007, ’98.
Christo und Jeanne-Claude. On the Way to Over the River, Jörg Daniel Hissen/Wolfram Hissen, Germany 2005, ’60.
Dem Deutschen Volke. Verhüllter Reichstag, Jörg Daniel Hissen/Wolfram Hissen, Germany 1996, ’90.

Literature

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Taschen GmbH Verlag, Cologne 2020.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude - Paris!, Sophie Duplaix, Ausstellungskatalog Centre Pompidou, Munich 2020.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. in/out Studio, published by Matthias Koddenberg, Dortmund/New York 2015.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Prints and Objects, published by Jörg Schellmarin, Ostfildern 2013.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The Mastaba, Bildband, Cologne 2012.
Christo und Jeanne-Claude. Grenzverlegung der Utopie, Text Werner Spies, Berlin 2010.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Life=Works=Projects, Tokyo 2009.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude. The Gates, Bildband, Cologne 2005.