Christo was known for his public art projects that often involved wrapping large objects and buildings in fabric. The projects would usually disappear soon after they were installed.
Christo, known for massive, ephemeral public arts projects, died Sunday at his home in New York at age 84.
The artist’s death was announced on Twitter and on his web page. No cause of death was given.
Christo and his late wife Jeanne-Claude defined their careers with ambitious art projects that quickly disappeared soon after they were erected.
Their art installations often involved wrapping large structures in fabric.
In 2005, Christo installed more than 7,500 saffron-colored vinyl gates in New York’s Central Park. He and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin in fabric with an aluminum sheen in 1995.
Their $26 million US Umbrellas project erected 1,340 blue umbrellas installed in Japan and 1,760 blue umbrellas in Southern California in 1991.
They also wrapped the Pont Neuf in Paris, the Kunsthalle in Bern, Switzerland, and a Roman wall in Italy.
Still a project to come
Christo’s next project, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, is slated to appear in September in Paris as planned, according to a statement issued by his office.
An exhibition about Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work is also scheduled to run from July through October at the Centre Georges Pompidou.
Christo passed away today, on May 31, 2020, at his home in New York City. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have always made clear that their artworks in progress be continued after their deaths. L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (Project for Paris) is still on track for Sept. 18–Oct. 3, 2021. pic.twitter.com/xHPURw60w2
“Christo lived his life to the fullest, not only dreaming up what seemed impossible but realizing it,” the statement said.
“Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s artwork brought people together in shared experiences across the globe, and their work lives on in our hearts and memories.”
Couple born ‘in the same moment’
Born in Bulgaria in 1935, Christo Vladimirov Javacheff studied at the Fine Arts Academy in Sofia before moving to Prague in 1957, then Vienna, then Geneva.
It was in Paris in 1958 where he met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon. They were born on the same da