Wladimirow Jawaschew, Christo

1935 Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born on June 13, 1935 in Grabovo, Bulgaria: his father owned a fabrics manufacturing company until it was confiscated. Jeanne-Claude Marle Denat was born on June 13, 1935 in Casablanca, then a French colony, now Marocco. She grew up in a high-ranking military family and spent her youth in France and Switzerland.

1952 Jeanne-Claude passes her baccalaureat in Latin and philosopy at the university of Tunis.

1953-1956 Christo studies at the art academy in Sofia.

1956 Christo leaves Bulgaria for Prague.

1957 On January 10, Christo flees to Vienna, where he studies for one semester. In October he travels to Geneva.

1958 In March he arrives in Paris, where he meets Jeanne-Claude, having just finished the portrait of her mother. First wrapped objects are created, »Packages« and »Wrapped Objects«.

1959 – 1963 Christo works alternatingly in Paris and Dusseldorf.

1960 Their son Cyrill is born on May 11.

1961 First cooperation of Christo and Jeanne-Claude in Cologne: »Stacked Oil Barrels and Dockside Packages«.

1962 »Wall of Oil Barrels, lron Curtain, Rue Visconti«, Paris. 

1964 »Store Fronts«. Moving to New York in September, where the family lives in the artists’ hotel Chelsea and subsequently takes over Claes Oldenburg’ studio flat in Howard Street.

1966 »Air Package« in the van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; »Package«, Minneapolis.

1968 »Wrapped Fountain and Wrapped Medieval Tower«, Spoleto, Italy; »Wrapped Hay«, Philadelphia; »Wrapped Kunsthalle«, Bern; »5.600 Cubicmeter Package, documenta 4«, Kassel.

1969 »Wrapped Museum of Contemporary Art«, Chicago; »Wrapped Coast, Little Bay«, Australia.

1970 »Wrapped Monuments«, Milan.

1971 »Wrapped Floor«, Museum Lange, Krefeld. 

1972 »Valley Curtain«, Colorado.

1974 »Wrapped Roman Wall«, Rome; »Ocean Front«, Rhode Island.

1976 »Running Fence«, California. 

1977 Starting the plans for »The Mastaba of Abu Dhabi, Project for the United Arab Emirates«. »Wrapped Walk Ways, Jacob L. Loose Park«, Kansas City.

1983 »Sourrounded lslands, Biscayne Bay«, Florida.

1984 »Wrapped Floors«, Architekturmuseum Basel.

1985 »The Pont Neuf Wrapped«, Paris. 

1991 »The Umbrellas, Japan – USA«.

1992 Starting the plans for »Over The River, Project for the Arkansas River, State of Colorado«.

1995 »Wrapped Reichstag«, Berlin.

1998 »Wrapped Trees, Fondation Beyeler and Berower Park, Riehen«, Basel; »Palazzo Bricherasio, Wrapped Floors and Stairways«, Turin.

1999 »The Wall, 13.000 Oil Barrels«, Gasometer, Oberhausen.

2005 »The Gates«, Central Park, New York City. 

2006 Retrospective of »The Gates« in an exhibition hall in Zurich set up just for this project.

2009 Jeanne-Claude dies in New York on the 18th November.

2013 »Big Air Package«, Gasometer, Oberhausen.

2016 »The Floating Piers«, Lake Iseo, Italy.

2018 »The London Mastaba«, Serpentine Lake, London.

2020 Christo dies in New York on the 31st May.

2021 »L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped«, Paris.