--- title: JR, Olafur Eliasson Remember the Power of Christo's Art description: The artist Christo, who died on May 31, told JR that "his projects existed through his conversations about them with others." canonical: https://time.com/5847001/christo-remembrance/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-06-04T12:30:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T12:53:45.725Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Remembering the Power of Christo's Work og:description: Artists JR and Olafur Eliasson on Christo's impact og:url: https://time.com/5847001/christo-remembrance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca8e1244d82d8f5/698a0ee897cdff0e506bad24/christo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Christo og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Remembering the Power of Christo's Work twitter:description: Artists JR and Olafur Eliasson on Christo's impact twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9ca8e1244d82d8f5/698a0ee897cdff0e506bad24/christo.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'That Is Exactly the Kind of Confrontation You Want.' 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=e6944b97-ebc5-4f97-a02f-dcf92d20284b&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [JR](https://time.com/author/jr/) and [Olafur Eliasson](https://time.com/author/olafur-eliasson/) Jun 4, 2020 12:30 PM UTC  Christo unveils an installation on Serpentine Lake, with accompanying exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery on June 18, 2018 in London. Christo unveils an installation on Serpentine Lake, with accompanying exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery on June 18, 2018 in London. Tim P. Whitby—Getty Images by [JR](https://time.com/author/jr/) and [Olafur Eliasson](https://time.com/author/olafur-eliasson/) Jun 4, 2020 12:30 PM UTC _After the May 31, 2020, death of the artist Christo, known for large-scale public works like_ [The Floating Piers](https://time.com/4374050/christo-the-floating-piers-photos/) _and_ [Surrounded Islands](https://christojeanneclaude.net/projects/surrounded-islands), _created with his late wife and partner Jeanne-Claude,_ _TIME asked artists to reflect on his impact and legacy._ ## JR: Christo’s Work Asked Us to Find Our Own Way to ‘Why’ When I first saw Christo’s work, I thought, “What is this? He’s just wrapping things up? Why?” But I soon realized that is exactly the kind of confrontation you want with art: trying to make your own way to the actual answer to the question of why. To me, that’s what his work provokes. Especially after I learned that Christo and Jeanne-Claude, his wife and artistic partner who died in 2009, stayed away from working with brands and self-­financed many of their projects, I loved to be compared to him. When I had the chance to meet Christo—who died May 31 at 84—in New York City at his studio, I remember how focused he was. I loved being around his energy, and the time he gave me was everything to me. He told me that his projects existed through his conversations about them with others; that’s what mattered so much to him. I think people should remember him for his vision, which went on for decades, and take inspiration from the dedication he and Jeanne-Claude showed to their work. ## Olafur Eliasson: Christo and Jeanne-Claude ‘Re-Humanized Our Surroundings’ In 1995, I experienced [the Reichstag in the process of being clad](https://christojeanneclaude.net/mobile/projects?p=wrapped-reichstag). Even though Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s art was familiar to me from books, I found their one-to-one scale work with the city of Berlin utterly compelling. Their use of real life as a canvas for artistic statement-making was incredibly inspiring and liberating. It emphasized the possibility of public space as a place that everyone co-owns and co-creates with their gaze and their engagement. A building as iconic as the Reichstag, anchored solidly in the complexity of the German history, was reframed and, for me, became a contemporary building — as if the colossal had suddenly been allowed to travel through time to meet up with me today. Christo and Jeanne-Claude re-humanized our surroundings by exposing them to us. In their artistic work, we not only meet up with the artwork: we also meet up with ourselves. Christo will be missed. _A portion of this story appears in the June 15, 2020, issue of TIME_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5847001/christo-remembrance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5847001/christo-remembrance/"},"headline":"'That Is Exactly the Kind of Confrontation You Want.' 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