The artists Christo (1935-2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009) worked together for over 50 years. Their enormous and astounding art projects of city and landscape elements made them world-famous. They mastered the whole creative process from idea and documentation to realization.
Before the projects were realized in full size, the artistic idea emerged in preparatory sketches, collages, drawings, and scale models. These works of art made in Christo's studio should be considered the most important steps in the creative process. All these steps have their own value and document the artistic development of the projects. The work in the auction Surrounded Islands (project for Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida) from 1983 is one such original work. It was possible to view the temporary project Surrounded Islands, which included eleven islands outside of Miami, for two weeks. 603,870 m2 of floating pink woven polypropylene fabric extended sixty-one metres out into the water from each of the islands. In order to keep the pink fabric taut, pipes were attached to the outer edges, which in turn were secured by anchors. In total 610 specially-made anchors were used, placed at fifteen metre intervals.
The work covering the eleven islands began on the 4th of May 1983. There were 430 people working on finishing the project, which was completed on the 7th of May 1983. Christo and Jeanne-Claude had already begun the preparatory stages in 1981 and it was funded entirely by the sale of their own art. They did not accept sponsorship money or other external funding, which was the case for all of the artist couple’s collaborative projects.