Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was a Bulgarian artist mainly related to “land art” which is an art movement that uses the environment and the landscape as the base.
Christo was born in Gabrovo, Bulgaria in 1935 and after the Second World War moved to Paris with his mother where he started learning about different artistic fields such as sculpture and architecture.
He met Jeanne-Claude in Paris in 1958 who would become his wife and they soon started collaborating in their artwork. However, they would sign their artwork as “Christo” to simplify their brand and also because of the prejudices a female artist would suffer at that time.
Their artwork is mainly known for large art pieces in which the environment plays an essential role. Some of their work needed months or years to be completed and has often been seen as controversial by parts of the public as many times it required political negotiations or environmental permits from governments or authorities.
Jeanne-Claude died in 2008 and Christo continued with their work until his death in 2020. However, in 2021 his unfinished work “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” will be shown in 2021. In the words of Will Gompertz from BBC “Shakespeare told us all the world is a stage, Christo showed us all the world is an art gallery.”