Telluride Gallery: Remembering Christo (1935-2020)

13 Jun Telluride Gallery: Remembering Christo (1935-2020)

Christo died on May 31, 2020. A little known fact, not detailed in his obituary, was that the celebrated artist was part of the Telluride Gallery’s extended family.

in May 2007, Christo and his beloved wife Jeanne-Claude were invited to the Telluride Gallery  for an exhibition of their work (in drawing form) and to promote their “Over the River” project meant to go up near Salida, Colorado. 

Years later, in August 2013, the Zolines, friends of the artist, and the Telluride Institute invited Christo to town to talk shop about his work, including the “Over the River Project.” (Which sadly never happened.) Go here to read the Telluride Inside.. and Out story on the event and listen to our podcast with Christo.

Working with his wife and creative partner, Jeanne-Claude, (1935 – 2009), Christo is renowned for creating some of the most spectacular, large-scale, site-specific environmental installations of the 20th century – or any century. Put simply, despite the fact all of his magical, monumental, festooned works of art were not meant to last, the man leaves behind a legacy that will never be forgotten.

Jean Claude and Christo at the Telluride Gallery.

Valley Curtain was installed between two Colorado mountain slopes in 1972. The orange curtain was made from 200,200 square feet (18,600 square meters) of woven nylon fabric.

The London Mastaba was a temporary sculpture in Hyde Park comprised of horizontally stacked barrels on a floating platform in Serpentine Lake.

Book-signing at The Telluride Gallery.