Christo' (n. 1935) & Jeanne-claude (1935 - 2009) Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Christ

He was born on 13 June 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, from the union of the entrepreneur Vladimir Yavacev and the secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Cveta Dimitrova, he studied from 1953.

In 1956 he completed his studies and moved to Prague, and the following year he managed to escape the communist bloc regime and arrived in Austria. From here he moved first to Vienna, then to Geneva and then to Paris in 1958. Read the full biography

Christo' (n. 1935) & Jeanne-claude (1935 - 2009) Biography

Christ

He was born on 13 June 1935 in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, from the union of the entrepreneur Vladimir Yavacev and the secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Cveta Dimitrova, he studied from 1953.

In 1956 he completed his studies and moved to Prague, and the following year he managed to escape the communist bloc regime and arrived in Austria. From here he moved first to Vienna, then to Geneva and then to Paris in 1958. There he was considered stateless and an outcast, earning a living by making portraits and signing his surname "Javacheff".

His first works signed "Christo" are abstract paintings and living models of object packaging (bottles, boxes, cartons, tables, etc.) or of canvas or plastic. These works intrigued friends including Arman and Yves Klein, with whom he joined the neorealist movement.

Jeanne-Claude

He was born in Casablanca (Morocco) on 13 June 1935 to his mother, Précilda, who was briefly married to the French major Léon Denat. During the war, her mother joined the French resistance and married General Jacques de Guilebon (1946), Jeanne-Claude lived in Bern, then in Tunisia, and in 1952 she graduated in Latin and philosophy. In 1958 she arrived in Paris.