The largest retrospective of the building wrapping artist duo Christo and Jeanne-Claude ever held in the UK is coming to the Saatchi Gallery this autumn.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude, Covered triumphal arch, Paris, 1961-2021, Photo: Wolfgang Volz / Saatchi Gallery
The exhibition, which will open in November, will trace their artistic journey from experimental beginnings in Paris across six decades of collaboration. The exhibition will show off rarely-seen works and offers a glimpse into future projects to be undertaken by the artists’ estate.
The exhibition will reveal the story of love and artistic collaboration between Christo and Jeanne-Claude, celebrating their artistic synergy and profound connection, contextualised alongside their artistic contemporaries, including Jean Dubuffet, Yves Klein, and Lucio Fontana.
Jeanne-Claude’s gift for communication and her tenacity often became the driving force in realising projects over the course of decades. It was essential to their artistic ethos that their ambitious installations were funded independently. The exhibition showcases how drawings, sketches, prints, and collages were transformed into valuable currency, providing the foundation for realising their larger-than-life visions.
A climactic juncture in their journey is showcased through the breathtaking wrapping of the Berlin Reichstag in 1995 and the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in 2021. These monumental achievements embody their daring and creative prowess, demonstrating their ability to transform public spaces into artistic canvases.
This is the last exhibition Christo signed off on before his death in 2020 and features seventy works which trace their historical development from the mid-1950s to 2020 and beyond.
The exhibition opens at the Saatchi Gallery on 15th November, and tickets are on sale now from here.
Is there a closing date for Wraped Buildings