Preparatory mixed-media composition by Christo, €60,000-80,000 at Grisebach.
Many of their projects took not years but decades until they were finally realised.
A case in point was the ambition to wrap the pre-war and post-reunification German parliament building, the Reichstag in Berlin. During the existence of the GDR, the inner- German border and, after 1961, the Berlin Wall ran right along the rear of the building.
In its sale of June 1-2, Grisebach in Berlin is offering an early preparatory mixed-media composition showing Christo’s impression of how the packaged building would look.
The 1ft 11in x 2ft 4in (58 x 72cm) collage is dated 1973. Two years previously, the American historian and journalist Michael S Cullen had sent Christo a postcard of the Reichstag with the suggestion that he should wrap it.
In the following decades, the project was supported and then rejected as governments, mayors and parliament presidents came and went. It looked as though it would never come to fruition.
However, after reunification, the mood changed and bit by bit the supporters gained the upper hand. In 1994, it was put to the vote in the German parliament, then still in the old capital Bonn: 292 voted yes, 223 rejected the notion. From then on, relatively speaking, things moved very quickly.
On June 24, 1995, the wrapping was completed. The action lasted only two weeks before it was dismantled again. In that time, over 5m people came to wonder.
The whole event cost $13m; in comparison the collage in the auction could be cheap at the price: the estimate is €60,000-80,000.
