CHRISTO (JAVACHEFF, VLADIMIROV)

* 13.6.1935 Gabrovo, † 31.5.2020 New York

Christo (Vladimirov Javacheff) was born on 13 June 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria. His spectacular wrapping of historical and monumental buildings, as well as various landscape projects, made him one of the most prominent artists of his time. After studying at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia from 1953 to 1956, he moved to Prague and began to train in theatre directing and stage design in the Czech capital. A year later, he fled to Vienna, where he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts.

After a brief stint in Geneva, he met his future wife Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon in Paris in 1958, with whom he had a son and formed an inseparable artistic partnership, creating gigantic works of environmental art. His most acclaimed works include the Wrapped Pont Neuf in Paris in 1985 and the Wrapped German Reichstag in Berlin in 1995. Jeanne-Claude died on 18 November 2009, Christo died on 31 May 2020 in New York.