Sofia Gallery to Host Major Christo / Jeanne-Claude Exhibition for 1st Time

Bulgarian-born artist Christo and his homeland are eventually to meet after 57 years - not personally, though.

This autumn will be the first time that a Bulgarian gallery hosts a major exhibition by the artist Christo (born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff) and his life partner, late Jeanne-Claude, known outside Bulgaria for the wrapping of the Reichstag in Berlin, the Pont-Neuf bridge in Paris other eye-catching projects around the globe.

Organized with the exclusive support of Christo, the retrospective includes 130 original numbered editions of prints and objects by the couple, as well as photographs by Wolfgang Volz of their works over more than fifty years.

It will be available from September 14 to November 22 at the Sofia City Art Gallery, and an official opening will take place at 18:00 on September 13.

"Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Prints and Objects 1963-2014" was compiled by the Bulgarian-born artist to present his and Jeanne-Claude's "oeuvre around the world. It traces in exhaustive detail, both chronologically and thematically, Christo's progress as an artist on his own and his collaboration with Jeanne-Claude, which led to some of the most remarkable projects in contemporary art: Wrapped Reichstag, The Pont Neuf Wrapped, Running Fence, The Gates, The Umbrellas, Surrounded Islands, Over The River, The Mastaba, etc.," the Sofia City Art Gallery says in a message to the media.

The collection also features a number of projects that were never carried out but that Christo deems important to understand the two artists' creative thinking.

Given the ephemereal nature of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's larger pieces, most of which use wrapping or other art installations to briefly transform familiar landscapes into works of...