Initially controversial, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's wrapping of the Reichstag in 1995 was the first German summer fairytale to come true.
The biggest challenge in this mammoth project was not its technical implementation, but convincing opponents and obtaining official approval.
Between 1992 and 1994, Christo and Jeanne-Claude spoke to 400 members of parliament to win them over to their project, which polarized the political groups.
Federal Chancellor Dr. Helmut Kohl was one of the staunch opponents of the campaign, while Bundestag President Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth was one of the early supporters. On February 25, 1994, the Bundestag narrowly approved the wrapping of the Reichstag building by 292 votes to 223 with nine abstentions.
The following year, in the summer of 1995, the wrapping of the Reichstag was finally realized.
Even after the death of his partner in 2009, Christo continued to work on spectacular projects, such as covering large sections of the Arkansas River in the US state of Colorado and erecting a mastaba consisting of 410,000 colorful oil barrels in Abu Dhabi as well as the walkable "Floating Piers" on Lake Iseo in Italy.
Christo died in New York on May 31, 2020 at the age of 84.
Christo strictly rejected sponsorship money from public or private sources and insisted that the projects only be realized for a limited period of time.
This leads to an unusual concept: only the sale of sketches, models and drawings makes the realization possible, and only they ultimately document it.
A Christo is therefore a work of art in its own right, but also a building block of a larger one - and not least a testimony to the creative process.
It is in this context that the collage with pencil, ink and enamel paint offered here was created for the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin. By acquiring it, you are securing a valuable piece of art and contemporary history.
Discover this and other works by Christo at ARTES.
Do you have questions about a work or would you like to view it without obligation? Please contact us:
+49 (0)511 - 642 771-20 ∙ info@kunsthaus-artes.de
