Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Transforming the Familiar

Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2020 and 1935–2009) were an artist duo known for large-scale environmental installations that temporarily transformed landscapes, buildings, and public spaces.

Their practice involved wrapping or enclosing architectural and natural structures in fabric, ropes, or engineered materials, creating works that both concealed and redefined familiar forms. Major projects included the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag building in Berlin, as well as vast landscape interventions such as Running Fence in California.

Central to their approach was the idea of temporality: each project existed only for a short period before being dismantled, leaving behind documentation, memory, and public experience as its primary legacy. Their work emphasized transformation through scale, collaboration, and public participation, reframing everyday environments as momentary aesthetic experiences.

Wrapped Trees

Christo and Jeanne-Claude, 1997–98, Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park, Basel, Switzerland. For this installation, 178 trees were wrapped in 592,000 sq ft (55,000 sq m) of woven polyester fabric and ropes.

KEY WORKS:Wrapped Coast, 1968–69 (New South Wales, Australia: Little Bay);Surrounded Islands, 1983 (Florida: Biscayne Bay)