Throughout five decades of collaboration, the husbandandwife artists Christo and JeanneClaude have created highly celebrated publicart projects across the globe. Their forthcoming project The Gates, Central Park, New York City, 19792005 conceived twentyfive years ago is their first to be realized in New York City, their home of forty years. This temporary installation is scheduled for completion in Central Park for sixteen days, beginningweather pernúttingon February 12, 2005. lt will consist Of 7.500 sixteenfoottall saffroncolored gates from six to eighteen feet wide, following the width of each walkway set up at twelvefoot intervals along twentythree miles of pedestrian walkways that lace the park. As are all the artists major temporary projects, The Gates is envisioned as an expression of joy and beauty. The inspiration for the title comes from landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, the creators of Central Park, who referred to the openings in the continuous stone wall surrounding the park as gates. The project celebrates both the organic beauty and varied topography of Central Park as well as the grid structure of the surrounding city blocks. The saffron color evokes autumnal fohage and was chosen for its striking luminosity when set against a wintry backdrop of leafless trees.
