Christo Vladimirov Javacheff was born in June I3, 1935, from a Bulgarian industrialist family. Jeanne-Claude was born the same day in Casablanca. Christo studies at Fine Arts Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Christo and Jeanne-Claude met in October 1958, when he was commissioned to paint a portrait of her mother, Précilda de Guillebon. In 1961, Christo and Jeanne-Claude covered barrels at the port of Cologne, their first collaboration. In 1962, the couple tackled their first monumental project, Rideau de Fer (Iron Curtain). Without consent of authorities and as a statement against the Berlin Wall, they blocked off Rue Visconti, a small street near the River Seine, with oil barrels.

After a brief return to Europe, they settled in the United States in September of that year. Christo began to create storefronts, which he built to scale. Sale of the storefronts helped finance larger projects. In 2009 Jean Claude passes away. Christo died in may 2020.