The artistic duo Christo, comprising contemporary artist Christo and his partner Jeanne-Claude, specialized in wrapping art. For more than 50 years, they traveled the world in search of places where they could create breathtaking artworks, erecting their signature veils there.

Christo transformed cityscapes, landscapes, buildings, coastlines, lakes and islands, prompting us to reconsider our surroundings. At their boldest and most spectacular, his projects entered the collective imagination and overturned our sense of scale and place in the world. At their best, they were subversive and transformative, leaving surprise and wonder behind. His art lives on in the imagination, however fleeting the projects—some lasting only days—and however difficult it was to encounter them in person.

After Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, Christo continued working and planning the couple’s next creation: wrapping the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in silvery-blue fabric and red rope. The idea first emerged in 1962. Originally scheduled for autumn 2020, the work was postponed until September 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Christo once explained that many artists and architects wanted their works to last forever, whereas he felt no wish to leave anything behind—and that this required courage. Yet the brilliance of his life and work, together with that of his wife Jeanne-Claude, will remain in people's memories and hearts.