(Bulgarie / États-Unis)

CHRISTO JAVACHEFF

Christo Javacheff, known as Christo, was born on June 13, 1935, in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. After studying at the Sofia Academy of Fine Arts, he fled the communist regime and settled in Paris in 1958, before moving to New York in 1964, where he became a naturalized American citizen.

Together with his lifelong partner and collaborator Jeanne-Claude, he developed a singular artistic language rooted in wrapping — enveloping monuments, natural landscapes, and everyday objects in fabric or synthetic materials. These ephemeral interventions, designed to disappear, challenged our perception of the world and the objects that inhabit it.

Among his most iconic works: The Wrapped Reichstag in Berlin (1995), The Gates in Central Park, New York (2005), and the wrapping of the Pont Neuf in Paris (1985). Christo self-funded all of his projects, primarily through the sale of preparatory drawings, lithographs, and multiples.

Christo passed away on May 31, 2020, in New York, leaving behind a monumental body of work that redefined the boundaries between art, architecture, and landscape. As he himself once said: "The work of art is a scream of freedom."