CHRISTO (Bulgaria, 1935- USA, 2020). "The Gates, Project for Central Park New York City", 2001. Collage on paper. Signed and dated in the lower right corner. Signed and dated on the back. Attached certificate signed by Christo in 2012. Measurements: 36 x 56 cm; 36 x 57 x 3 cm (frame). Central Park was the perfect setting for the installation of "The Gates", a project devised by Christo and Jeanne-Claude consisting of the placement of 7,503 saffron-colored panels supported on steel bases that ran along part of its geography. No holes were drilled in the ground for the installation, and the entire project was financed by the artistic tandem themselves (as were each and every one of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's designs). For New Yorkers walking through The Gates following the walkways, "the saffron-colored fabric was a golden ceiling creating warm shadows. Seen from the buildings surrounding Central Park, The Gates looked like a golden river that appeared and disappeared among the bare branches of the trees and highlighted the shape of the meandering paths," says the Foundation itself. A renowned artistic couple of the late 20th century, Christo and Jeanne-Claude's wrapped objects are some of the most extreme examples of conceptual art. Christo Valdimirov Javacheff studied between 1952 and 1956 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, then spent a year in Prague. In 1957 Christo fled the socialist state and settled in Vienna, from where he would travel to Geneva and finally to Paris. His life in Paris was characterized by economic deprivation and social isolation, which was increased by his difficulty in learning the French language. He earned money painting portraits, which he likened to prostitution. In January 1958, Christo made his first piece of "wrapped art"; he covered an empty paint jar with a canvas soaked in acrylic. Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in Paris in November 1958. In 1961 he tackled what would be his first project with large objects, wrapping barrels in the port of Cologne. In 1962, Christo and Jeanne-Claude tackled their first monumental project, "Rideau de fer", as a statement against the Berlin Wall. The work consisted of blocking off Visconti Street over the river with oil barrels. Although Christo was simultaneously holding his first gallery exhibition, it was the Visconti project that made him known in Paris. In 1964 the couple settled in New York. In 1968 they participated in Documenta 4 in Kassel, and in 1969 they undertook one of their most famous projects, that of wrapping the Little Bay waterfront in Sydney, Australia. Since then, they have completed numerous large-scale projects around the world, including "Running fence" and "Wrapped walk ways" in the United States, "Pont Neuf" in Paris, "Umbrellas" in the United States and Japan, and the Reichstag building in Germany.