The veritable voyage de découverte
it consists of pas à chercher de nouveaux
paysages, corn à avoir de nouveaux yeux.
Marcel Proust
The great and ambitious works of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, their installations, their projects, partly inspired by that brilliant work of 1920 by Man Ray, L'enigme d'Isodore Ducasse - first wrapping with a blanket and a string of any object (in this case a sewing machine) that the history of art remembers - they teach us above all to re-learn to see, they urge us to re-discover, to have new eyes. In ancient Greek one of the most important words is admirable, being worthy of wonder, being able to be admired. The philosopher, the one who loves and seeks wisdom (sophia), is above all a man who marvels, a person who feels amazement (thauma, thaumazein) also as fear, vertigo, disorientation. And to look, to observe, is to understand. It is nice to consider that even today, in English, I understand is also expressed with I see (I see it). The vast installations and varied projects by Christo and Jeanne-Claude - from Documenta's Packaging of Air in Kassel (1968) to the Mastaba (to be built), from Valley Curtain (1970/72) to the current The Floating Piers on the lake d'Iseo, from the Surrounded Islands (1980/83) to Over The River (to be built), from The Umbrellas (1984/91) to The Gates (1979/2005) from the Running Fence (1972/76) to the Pont Neuf Wrapped ( 1975/85) to the Wrapped Reichstag (1971/95) - were conceived above all with the intent to hide, completely or partially, or to vary and decorate a place, a vast space, in order to really show, to make people understand again. Proust said that the real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Hiding or changing temporarily to give new light, new life and vision to what seemed obvious. Cover for a short period of time a monument, a shape, a presence, a place, to then be able to savor it again. The highest etymology of an eminently religious word is revelation: the re-veil. Remove and put on a veil, a diaphragm, a cover. There is no doubt that the two main parameters that qualify a work of art and its historical importance are beauty and originality. Christo and Jeanne-Claude are grand in beauty and generous in originality.
