The Conviction Artist
Christo became well-known early on in 1960, after he had connected to the group "New Realism" founded by Pierre Restany and Yves Klein in Paris. The group´s sociologically inspired interpretation of art mainly concentrated on object art.
The artist met his wife Jean-Claude already in 1958. He was on the market as a commissioned artist in Paris those days. A client had a daughter - Jean Claude - who stood out with bright red hair and great knowledge. Unfortunately, Jean-Claude was already taken. However, two weeks after her wedding she went pregnant. Not by her husband but by the poor Bulgarian artists. Their son Cyril was born in 1960, and then the couple married in 1962. The two perfectly fit together: He is the brilliant artist, she a gifted organizer. They became famous together as concealment artists.
At first, they mantled barrels in Cologne in 1969, a coast in Australia in 1969 and a year later, they draw a curtain across a valley of the Rocky Mountains. Another world event presented the installation "The Umbrellas" in Japan and California in 1986. In both countries, 1,340 blue umbrellas in Ibaraki - and 1,760 yellow umbrellas in California were positioned simultaneously. Three million visitors in total enjoyed the umbrellas. The action was topped in Berlin in 1994. Christo and Jean-Claude veiled the German Reichstag in an unprecedented media event. With more than 100,000 m² fireproof polypropylene fabric coated with a layer of aluminium, 90 professional climbers fastened the panels on the building. Five million people watched this event.
Now in 2016 there was the floating piers. The idea was to be able to go on dry ground through water. The spectacular installation made it possible. Visitors could walk on the yellow-orange shimmering webs across three kilometres. The highlight was that depending on the light incidence the colour of the material changed. If you´d walk barefoot, you could feel the waves while walking. Overall, the project made 15 million euros.
