The spectacular art of Christo and his wife, Jeanne-Claude, has marked the memory of our public space with its monumental packaging.
From their installation Running Fence in California to The Gate in Central Park, before the impressive Floating Piers on Lake Iseo in Italy, which gathered in a few days nearly 1.2 million visitors, their art has always thought nomadic and fragile, as intense as ephemeral.
But it was mainly through its packaging of the Reichtag and the Pont-Neuf that Christo’s art became popular. Capable of «revealing by hiding» the monuments that made it the object, a true reflection on the volume, their interventions accompanied the history of our time.
Jeanne-Claude’s death in 2009 had not interrupted Christo’s creative process. An exhibition was soon to open at the Centre Pompidou, dedicated to its years of Parisian life, between 1958 and 1964, but also to its packaging of the Pont-Neuf, which took ten years to achieve, in 1985, for a result that was ultimately only briefly visible, like its other facilities.
Christo was especially preparing to drive to Paris, where he met his wife, his final project, the packaging of the Arc de Triomphe in the fall.
Franck Riester, Minister of Culture, shares the sadness of all those who admired Christo’s work, and sends his sincere condolences to his family and loved ones.