He was considered the man who packed the world – now the artist Christo died on Sunday at the age of 84 in his New York apartment, as his website said and his office confirmed to the German press agency. “Christo lived to the fullest,” said his staff. “He not only dreamed of things that seemed impossible, but also realized them.”
He had planned another sensational action
For the coming year Christo had planned his next sensational action: the wrapping of the Parisian triumphal arch. The Bulgarian-born American, who owned a studio in the south of Manhattan, actually wanted to pack the Parisian landmark this autumn, but postponed it to September 2021 because of the corona epidemic. The project will continue despite Christo’s death, his office assured. In addition, from July this year there will be a large exhibition on the artist’s work at the Center Pompidou in Paris.
In Germany, Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009, were best known for wrapping the Reichstag in Berlin. In 1995 they covered the building with 100,000 square meters of special fabric. The action attracted five million visitors and is still one of their masterpieces today.
Commercial climbers roll off the covering tarpaulins for the Berlin Reichstag from the gable of the building. Directly above the main entrance and the writing “Dem Deutschen Volke”, the material falls to the ground along the pillars during the campaign by the packaging artist Christo. | Image: Wolfgang Kumm / dpa
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The wrapping gave the Reichstag “new visibility” and “the importance that the seat of parliament has for us today”, said Minister of State for Culture Monika Grütters on Sunday in Berlin. “The days of the veiled Reichstag, with their character of a peaceful folk festival, have become part of our collective social memory.”
The artist Christo and Jean-Claude stand behind the model of the wrapped Berlin Reichstag at an exhibition in the Würth Museum in Rioja (Spain). | Image: Raquel Manzanares (EFE)
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Other famous projects by the artist couple included the “Big Air Package” in the Oberhausen Gasometer, the saffron-colored gates in New York’s Central Park (“The Gates”), the floating, nylon-covered walkways on the water of Lake Iseo in Lombardy ( “Floating Piers”) as well as the packaged Pont Neuf bridge in Paris. The upcoming wrapping of the triumphal arch was one of the longest planned projects – Christo and Jeanne-Claude had discussed it for the first time in 1962.
Politicians appreciate his work
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was concerned about Christ’s death. “With the wrapped Reichstag in Berlin, Christo gave us Germans a work of art that will always be remembered. It has burned itself into our hearts as a symbol for a cosmopolitan Germany. “
Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU) called Christo an “exceptional artist” and also recalled the wrapping of the Berlin Reichstag: “Personally, I think back to my original skepticism about turning this historic place into a work of art – and the unforgettable pleasure that millions thus provided “. (dpa)
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