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Home > Art > Wrapped Oil Barrels

Wrapped Oil Barrels

Artist

Christo

Date

1958

Medium

Fabric, lacquer, steel wire, and two barrels

Object Type

Sculpture

Dimensions

One wrapped: H- 24 1⁄2 x W- 14 1⁄2”, One not wrapped: H- 25 3⁄4 x W- 14 1⁄2”

Artist's Country of Birth

Bulgaria

Collecting Area

Art by Immigrant Artists

Credit Line

The Vilcek Foundation

Accession Number

VF2021.07.01

Copyright

© Estate of Christo

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About the Artist

World-renowned artist duo Christo Javacheff and his wife Jeanne-Claude are known for their large-scale sculptures that typically utilize the technique of draping or wrapping large portions of existing landscapes with fabric to draw attention to their formal, conceptual, and volumetric qualities. Both born on the same day in 1935—Christo in Gabrovo, Bulgaria and Jeanne-Claude in Morocco to French parents—they began to envision conceptual projects and exhibit them in Europe. In 1964, they started working in New York and settled there for good. Before the duo began to use the technique of wrapping large portions of the natural environment, they created many sculptures by wrapping everyday objects such as furniture and household items. By exploring the transformative effects of fabric, they challenge viewers to re-examine the object’s initial meaning. 

Christo (1935–2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935–2009) received the first Vilcek Prize in the Arts and Humanities in 2006.

The Artist;
Estate of the Artist;

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Related Objects

Wrapped Payphone

1988 Christo
Photograph of a payphone wrapped in sackcloth with rope and twine.

Black Package

1965 Christo
A package wrapped in black fabric with twine and rope and attached to a white block of wood and enclosed in plexiglass.

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Christo and Jeanne-Claude

Christo (1935-2020) and Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009) receive the Vilcek Prize in Fine Arts for capturing the imagination of the world and broadening the popular conception of art with their large-scale works.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude stand in front of their work of art
April 5, 2022

Vilcek Foundation acquires Christo’s Wrapped Oil Barrels (1958)

The Vilcek Foundation acquires early work by the late artist Christo. We look back at the start of a body of work that spans six decades. It all started with the oil barrel.
A close-up detail of Christo's wrapped oil barrel.
June 8, 2020

Remembering Christo: His Art Showed Us the World Through Different Eyes

Decades of monumental, often whimsical, projects earned the Bulgarian-born artist Christo and his Moroccan-born partner, Jeanne-Claude, the inaugural Vilcek Prize and a lasting place in the hearts of art lovers the world over.
A photo of Christo in front of a wall of windows.

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