Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo and Jeanne-Claude's temporary projects changed how millions moved through familiar places for a fortnight. The Gates of 2005 put 7,503 saffron fabric gates along the paths of New York's Central Park; The Floating Piers of 2016 let 1.2 million people walk on water across Italy's Lake Iseo. They paid for everything by selling Christo's drawings, spent years winning permits through public hearings, often against fierce opposition, and relied on hundreds of paid workers to install and remove each work. Christo's posthumous wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe followed in 2021.