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Life and Work

1935

Christo: American, Bulgarian-born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, June 13, 1935, Gabrovo, of a Bulgarian industrialist family.

Jeanne-Claude: American, French-born Jeanne-Claude Marie Denat, June 13, 1935, Casablanca, of a French military family, educated in France and Switzerland. Died November 18, 2009, New York City.


1952

Jeanne-Claude: Baccalauréat in Latin and Philosophy, University of Tunis.


1953-56

Christo: Studies at Fine Arts Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria.


1957

Christo: Studies one semester at Fine Arts Academy, Vienna, Austria.


1958

Christo arrives in Paris where he meets Jeanne-Claude.

Packages and Wrapped Objects.


1960

Birth of their son, Cyril, May 11.


1961

Project for a Wrapped Public Building.

Stacked Oil Barrels and Dockside Packages, Cologne Harbor, 1961. Rolls of paper, oil barrels, tarpaulin and rope. Duration: two weeks. Christo and Jeanne-Claude's first collaboration.


1962

Wall of Oil Barrels – The Iron Curtain, Rue Visconti, Paris, 1961-62. 89 barrels. Height: 13.7 feet (4.2 meters). Width: 13.2 feet (4 meters). Depth: 2.7 feet (0.5 meters). Duration: eight hours.

Stacked Oil Barrels, Gentilly, near Paris, France.

Wrapped Woman.


1963

Show Cases.


1964

Store Fronts and Show Windows.

Establishment of permanent residence in New York City.


1966

Air Package, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, 1966. Rubberized canvas balloon, polyethylene, rope and steel cables. Diameter: 17 feet (5.2 meters). Duration: one month.

42,390 Cubic Feet Package, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1966. Length: 60 feet (18.3 meters). Diameter: 25 feet ( 7.6 meters). Height: 32 feet (9.8 meters). Polyethylene: 8,000 square feet (740 square meters). Manila rope: 3,000 feet (914 meters). Duration: two days.


1968

Wrapped Fountain and Wrapped Medieval Tower, Spoleto, Italy, 1968. Polyethylene and rope. Duration: three weeks.

Wrapped Kunsthalle, Bern, 1967-68. Polyethylene: 16,156 square feet (2,430 square meters). Nylon rope: 1.9 miles (3 kilometers). Duration: one week.

5,600 Cubicmeter Package, documenta IV, Kassel, 1967-68. Height: 280 feet (85 meters). Six concrete foundations arranged in a 920 feet (280 meters) diameter circle. Fabric: 21,528 square feet (2,000 square meters). Rope: 11,482 feet (3,500 meters). Weight: 7 tons. Duration: two and a half months.

Corridor Store Front. Total area: 1,450 square feet (135 square meters).

1,240 Oil Barrels Mastaba and Wrapped Hay, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.


1969

Wrapped Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 1968-69. Tarpaulin: 10,000 square feet (930 square meters). Manila rope: 4,000 feet (1,219 meters). Duration: one and a half months.

Wrapped Floor and Stairway, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. House painter’s cotton drop cloths: 2,800 square feet (260 square meters). Duration: one and a half months.

Wrapped Coast, One Million Square Feet, Little Bay, Sydney, Australia, 1968-69. Erosion Control fabric: 1,000,000 square feet (92,900 square meters). Rope: 35 miles (56.3 kilometers). Length: 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers). Height: 85 feet (26 meters). Duration: two months.


1970

Wrapped Monuments, Milano, Italy, 1970: Wrapped Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, Piazza del Duomo. Polyethylene and rope. Duration: one day. Wrapped Monument to Leonardo da Vinci, Piazza della Scala. Polyethylene and rope. Duration: two days.


1971

Wrapped Floor, Wrapped Stairs, Covered Windows and Wrapped Walk Ways, Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld, Germany, 1971. House painter's cotton drop cloths and brown wrapping paper. Duration: 50 days.


1972

Valley Curtain, Rifle, Colorado, 1970-72. Width: 1,250 feet (381 meters) and a height curving from 365 feet (111 meters) at each end to 182 feet (55.5 meters) at the center. Nylon polyamide fabric: 200,200 square feet (18,600 square meters). Steel cables: 61 tons. Concrete: 864 tons. Duration: 28 hours.


1974

The Wall – Wrapped Roman Wall, Via Veneto and Villa Borghese, Rome, Italy, 1973-74. Woven polypropylene fabric and Dacron rope. Height: 49 feet (15 meters). Length: 820 feet (250 meters). Depth: varying between 13 to 18 feet (4.3 to 5.5 meters). Duration: 40 days.

Ocean Front, Newport, Rhode Island, 1974. Width: 420 feet (128 meters), Length: 320 feet (97.5 meters). Polypropylene fabric: 150,000 square feet (13,935 square meters) floating over the ocean. Duration: 8 days.


1976

Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California, 1972-76. 18 feet (5.5 meters) high, 24.5 miles (39.4 kilometers) long, crossing 14 roads. 2,050 fabric panels: 2,152,780 square feet (200,000 square meters) of woven nylon fabric. 90 miles (145 kilometers) of steel cables. 2,050 steel poles, each: 3.5 inch (8.9 cm) in diameter, 21 feet (6.4 meters) high. Duration: 14 days.


1977

The Mastaba, Project for the United Arab Emirates. In progress.


1978

Wrapped Walk Ways, Jacob Loose Park, Kansas City, Missouri, 1977-78. Woven nylon fabric: 135,000 square feet (12,540 square meters) over 2.7 miles (4.4 kilometers) of walkways. Duration: 14 days.


1983

Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980-83. Pink woven polypropylene fabric: 6.5 million square feet (603,870 square meters) floating around eleven islands. Duration: 14 days.


1984

Wrapped Floors and Stairways and Covered Windows, Architekturmuseum, Basel, Switzerland. House painter’s cotton drop cloths and brown wrapping paper. Duration: 17 days.


1985

The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Paris, 1975-85. Woven polyamide fabric: 454,178 square feet (40,876 square meters). Rope: 8 miles (13 kilometers). Duration: 14 days.


1991

The Umbrellas, Japan-USA, 1984-91. 1,340 blue umbrellas in Ibaraki, Japan. 1,760 yellow umbrellas in California, USA. Each umbrella: Height: 19 ⅔ feet (6 meters). Diameter: 28 ½ feet (8 ⅔ meters). Valley size in Japan: Length: 11.8 miles (19 kilometers). Width: 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). Valley size in USA: Length: 18 miles (29 kilometers). Width: 2.5 miles (4 kilometers). Duration: 18 days.


1992

Over The River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado. In progress.


1995

Wrapped Floors and Stairways and Covered Windows, Museum Würth, Künzelsau, Germany. House painter’s cotton drop cloths and brown wrapping paper. Duration: three months.

Wrapped Reichstag, Berlin, 1971-95. Polypropylene fabric with aluminum surface: 1,076,390 square feet (100,000 square meters). Rope: 9.7 miles (15.6 kilometers). Duration: 14 days.


1998

Wrapped Trees, Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen, Switzerland, 1997-98. 178 trees. Woven polyester fabric: 592,015 square feet (55,000 square meters). Rope: 14.3 miles (23 kilometers). Duration: 23 days.


1999

The Wall – 13,000 Oil Barrels, Gasometer, Oberhausen, Germany, 1998-99. Height: 85 feet (26 meters). Width: 223 feet (68 meters). Depth: 23.7 feet (7.23 meters). Duration: six months.


2005

The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 1979-2005. 7,503 vinyl gates, with free-flowing nylon fabric panels, anchored to 15,006 steel bases on 23 miles (37 kilometers) of walkways. Duration: 16 days.

Gabrovo, 1942
Christo (left) and his two brothers Stefan (center) and Anani (right)
Photo: Vladimir Yavachev
© 1942 Christo
 
Taroudant, 1940
Jeanne-Claude

Photo: Archive
© 1940 Christo
 
Paris, 1962
Jeanne-Claude in front of the Wall of Oil Barrels, inside the Galerie J
Photo: Raymond de Seynes
© 1962 Christo
 
Cologne, 1961
Christo in front of the Dockside Packages

Photo: Stefan Wewerka
© 1961 Christo
 
 
New York, 1966
Christo in his studio

Photo: Ugo Mulas
© 1966 Christo
 
Eindhoven, 1966
Christo wrapping a birch tree for his exhibition at the Stedelijk van Abbemuseum

Photo: Ab de Jager
© 1966 Christo
 
 
Kassel, 1968
Installation of the 5,600 Cubicmeter Package

Photo: Klaus Baum
© 1968 Christo
 
Little Bay, 1969
Christo during the installation of the Wrapped Coast

Photo: Harry Shunk
© 1969 Christo
 
 
New York, 1976
Christo in his studio
Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 1976 Christo
 
California, 1976
Christo during the installation of the Running Fence

Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 1976 Christo
 
Ibaraki, 1988
Christo and Jeanne-Claude working at The Umbrellas
Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 1988 Christo
 
Berlin, 1994
Jeanne-Claude, Christo and Wolfgang Volz working at the Wrapped Reichstag

Photo: Sylvia Volz
© 1994 Christo
 
 
New York, 2004
Christo working at a preparatory drawing for The Gates

Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 2004 Christo
 
United Arab Emirates, 2007
Christo and Jeanne-Claude working at The Mastaba

Photo: Wolfgang Volz
© 2007 Christo
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      © 2011 Christo // All images used on this website are copyrighted. If you would like to use these images please contact Christo and Jeanne-Claude's photographer Wolfgang Volz. Texts from this website may be reprinted without written permission. // Website Consulting Matthias Koddenberg.