Their work was typically large, visually impressive, and controversial, often taking years and sometimes decades of careful preparation – including technical solutions, political negotiation, permitting and environmental approval, hearings and public persuasion.

The pair refused grants, scholarships, donations or public money, instead financing the work via the sale of their own artwork.

[2] Their first show, in Cologne, 1961, showcased the three types of artworks for which they would be known: wrapped items, oil barrels, and ephemeral, large-scale works.

[3] Near Christo's first solo show in Paris, in 1962, the pair blocked an alley with 240 barrels for several hours in a piece called Iron Curtain, a poetic reply to the Berlin Wall.

Christo began to make Store Fronts, wooden facades made to resemble shop windows, which he continued for four years.

[16] Their 1978 Wrapped Walk Ways covered paths within Kansas City, Missouri's Loose Park in 12,540 square meters (135,000 square feet) of saffron-colored nylon fabric covering 4.4 kilometers (2.7 miles) of the park's formal garden walkways and jogging paths.

As with Surrounded Islands, workers who assisted with the installation and deinstallation of Pont Neuf Wrapped wore uniforms designed by Willi Smith.

[24] Christo and Jeanne-Claude wrapped the Berlin Reichstag building in 1995 following 24 years of governmental lobbying across six Bundestag presidents.

[29] Work began on the installation of the couple's most protracted project, The Gates, in New York City's Central Park in January 2005.

After The Wall (1999) as the final installation of the Emscher Park International Building Exhibition, Big Air Package was his second work of art in the Gasometer.

The "Big Air Package – Project for Gasometer Oberhausen, Germany" was conceived by Christo in 2010 (for the first time without his wife Jeanne-Claude).

In the accessible interior of Big Air Package, the artist generated a unique experience of space, proportions, and light.

[33] In 2014, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego presented the exhibit X-TO + J-C: Christo and Jeanne-Claude Featuring Works from the Bequest of David C. Copley, one of the museum's patrons and trustees who also had the largest collection of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's work in the United States.

From June 18 to July 3, 2016, visitors were able to walk just above the surface of the water from the village of Sulzano on the mainland to the islands of Monte Isola and San Paolo.

[37] The installation was facilitated by the Beretta family, owners of the oldest active manufacturer of firearm components in the world and the primary sidearm supplier of the U.S.

The installation consisted of 7,506 oil barrels, in the shape of a mastaba, a form of an early bench, as well as a style of tomb, in use in ancient Mesopotamia, with a flat roof and inward sloping sides.

[44] Another Mastaba of over 400,000 oil barrels is intended to be built at Al Gharbia, 160 km (100 mi) from the city Abu Dhabi.

Plans for the project call for horizontally suspending 10.8 km (6.7 mi) of reflective, translucent fabric panels high above the water, on steel cables anchored into the river's banks.

Reaction among area residents was intense, with supporters hoping for a tourist boom and opponents fearing that the project would ruin the visual appeal of the landscape and inflict damage on the river ecosystem.

[50] A lawsuit against Colorado Parks and Wildlife was filed on July 22, 2011, by Rags Over the Arkansas River (ROAR), a local group opposed to the project.

[53] Christo and Jeanne-Claude spent more than $6 million on environmental studies, design engineering, and wind tunnel testing of fabrics.

[54][55] In January 2017, after the election of President Trump, Christo canceled the controversial project citing protest of the new administration as well as tiring from the hard-fought legal battle waged by local residents.

Originally scheduled for autumn of 2020,[58] it was postponed a year to Saturday, September 18 to Sunday, October 3, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France and its impact on the arts and cultural sector worldwide.

[60] Several articles in the press cut the name of Jeanne-Claude on their coverage of the event leading to a debate about the suppression of the place of women in art history.

He received private art instruction at a young age and the support of his parents,[72] who invited visiting artists to their house.

[80] In 1956, he used an academy connection to receive permission to visit family in Prague,[81] where the theater of Emil František Burian reinvigorated him.

He had little money after paying the bribe, did not speak the language, had deserted during his Bulgarian military service, and feared being trapped in a refugee camp.

[90] L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, a planned work by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, went ahead posthumously in Paris in September 2021.

[91] Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon (French: [ʒan klod dəna də gijəbɔ̃]) was born in Casablanca, Morocco, where her father, an army officer, was stationed.

[5] After Précilda married the General Jacques de Guillebon in 1947, the family lived in Bern (1948–1951) and Tunisia (1952–1957) before returning to Paris.