"It's not a profession; it's existence."
Christo Vladimirov Javacheff (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (1935–2009), collectively known as Christo and Jeanne-Claude, were visionary artists celebrated for their monumental, site-specific environmental installations. Their projects, such as Wrapped Reichstag (Berlin, 1995), The Gates (New York City, 2005), and Surrounded Islands (Biscayne Bay, 1983), transformed landscapes and landmarks by wrapping them in fabric or altering their forms. Born on the same day—Christo in Bulgaria and Jeanne-Claude in Morocco—the pair met in Paris in the late 1950s and began a lifelong creative partnership. Initially working under Christo’s name, they later credited their works jointly. Their art was defined by its impermanence, requiring years of meticulous planning, including technical innovations, environmental studies, and political negotiations. Despite the logistical challenges and controversies surrounding their projects, they financed all their work independently through the sale of Christo’s preparatory drawings and collages.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude emphasized that their installations had no deeper meaning beyond their immediate aesthetic impact, aiming to inspire joy, beauty, and new ways of seeing familiar spaces. Their works were free and open to the public, inviting millions of viewers to engage with transformed environments. The couple’s legacy includes some of the most ambitious projects in contemporary art history, such as Running Fence (California, 1976) and The Floating Piers (Italy, 2016). Even after Jeanne-Claude’s death in 2009, Christo continued to realize their shared visions, including Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (Paris, 2021), completed posthumously. Their art remains a testament to creative freedom and the transformative power of reimagining the world around us.