Photo credit: NIKLAS HALLE’N/AFP via Getty Images
Bulgarian-born artist Christo used to work with his wife Jeanne-Claude has passed away in New York. In 1985, they wrapped the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris with fabric and a decade later, they wrapped the Reichstag in Berlin with an aluminium-looking fabric.
The couple wanted to make the biggest and most expensive sculpture—Mastaba in Abu Dhabi, UAE. It would have been made from 410,000 multi-coloured barrels to form a mosaic of bright sparkling colours, echoing Islamic architecture. The Mastaba is an ancient and familiar shape to the people of the region.
In 2012, Christo commissioned Pricewaterhouse Coopers to conduct analyses on the social and economic benefits of The Mastaba. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s relationship with Abu Dhabi goes back to 1979, when they first visited the Emirate.
