Maybach meets art: “The Gates” by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (2005)
The Maybach Foundation is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025 and, by looking back on a legendary art project, would like to highlight the power of innovation and the realization of a vision by two outstanding personalities in the spirit of the Maybach values.
In February 2025, we commemorate an extraordinary collaboration with the artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude, as the Maybach brand (DaimlerChrysler AG, now Mercedes-Benz Group AG) accompanied the celebrated art installation “The Gates” in New York City’s Central Park exactly 20 years ago. As brand ambassador at that time, Ulrich Schmid-Maybach was able to gain a personal impression of the now legendary presentation.
The world-famous and dazzling artist couple were overjoyed when they presented themselves to the international press in New York in February 2005. After 26 years of preparation and many negotiations with the City of New York, Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude had finally succeeded in realizing a project close to their hearts in the center of Manhattan. They were clearly enjoying the success of their art in their adopted home of New York, as the installation had been announced long in advance as an outstanding event. Due to spectacular earlier actions such as the wrapping of the Reichstag building in Berlin in 1995, public expectations were correspondingly high. They were not disappointed, and even the relatively mild weather provided ideal conditions for the unveiling of one of the most important works of conceptual art of the 20th century: Under a moderately cloudy, partly sunny and winter-blue sky, thousands of saffron-yellow lengths of fabric unfurled with great logistical effort and, swayed by the wind, created an unforgettable play of colors against the mighty grey city backdrop. The flags were hung at a height of 16.4 ft from a total of 7,503 metal gates, which wound their way along the footpaths through Central Park for 37 km. A total of 1076391 sq ft of synthetic fiber was specially produced and processed. The guests in the Central Park and the feuilletons celebrated the artist couple, who have steadfastly believed in the power of art and the favor of the people throughout their lives: Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s credo was to hold on to their own dreams and bring their visions to life for a short time in the realm of art in a visually powerful way.
Art and Nature
Like all of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s projects, this work was also subject to the greatest respect for nature and the environment. No changes whatsoever were made to the park area – also prescribed by the authorities – and sturdy brackets were even specially made for the metal gates so that no holes in the ground or anchors were left behind later. With their emphasis on sustainability, the artist couple anticipated today’s approaches to modern exhibition practice by implementing recycling processes for all materials after dismantling to reintegrate metals and plastics into the raw material cycle without leaving any residue. “The Gates” was therefore not only conceived as an artistic gift to the city of New York and the people, but also as a decidedly environmentally conscious approach that also convinced influential supporters and ensured a further positive response. An extraordinary film documentary shows the first meeting in 1979 of Christo and Jeanne-Claude and the renowned lawyer and mediator Ted Kheel (1914 – 2010), the founder of the Nurture Nature Foundation, which is still active in New York today: https://nurturenature.org/pages/the-gates-kheel-video-clip
A noble representative car from the Maybach brand for Christo and Jeanne-Claude
In the course of completing the project, Christo and Jeanne-Claude were always able to count on strong companions who ensured a high level of public attention and made their work much easier: for example, the artist couple were provided with a particularly luxurious vehicle by the Maybach brand (DaimlerChrysler AG, now Mercedes-Benz Group AG) during the entire construction phase from January 3rd, 2005, until the show was completed at the end of February 2005. Together with a chauffeur, a 6.17-meter-long Maybach 62 equipped with every conceivable comfort was available for Christo and Jeanne-Claude to use around the clock. The spacious and prestigious interior even made it possible to hold conferences with several people. Whenever the luxury limousine appeared around the Central Park and the fans spotted their idols in the back of the car, there was a huge cheer. Being able to receive the shouts of thanks from art enthusiasts in the comfort of a luxury limousine must have flattered the status-conscious couple, quite apart from such practical considerations as protection from winter temperatures.
Curiously, both had their birthdays on the same day, which lent this lifelong love story an almost fateful character: Christo Javacheff was born on June 13, 1935, in Gabrovo, Bulgaria, while Jeanne-Claude was born on the same day in Casablanca, Morocco. Both died in New York, Jeanne-Claude in 2009 and Christo in 2020. They devoted their lives entirely to art and merged into one artistic figure in their work.
Signed Christo works in the collection of the Maybach Foundation
In order to remain completely independent in their art, Christo and Jeanne-Claude generally did not accept any sponsorship money, and so it was also important to them to return the favor of being provided with the luxury car: One of the preparatory collages from Christo’s drawings for the project was therefore produced especially for the Maybach brand (DaimlerChrysler AG, now Mercedes-Benz Group AG) as a high-quality printed and limited special edition and hand-signed by Christo. The Maybach Foundation is also in possession of some of these valuable works, as the following illustration shows. In addition to their artistic quality, such graphics have a high commemorative value, because while fine art generally aims for longevity and preservation, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s spatial and wrapping art, which was detached from conventional norms, could only be experienced in reality for the moment or for a short period of time and is therefore more akin to a theatrical production in the sense of modern art happenings.
Joy and beauty in the moment
“The Gates” project was also only open to the public for a short time from February 12 – 28, 2005, and in the end attracted several million visitors, who moved through the gates like a solemn procession lasting several days as part of a major community event. Although the spiritual and solemn aesthetic effect was calculated, Christo and Jeanne-Claude did not want their work to be laden with too much symbolic content and cultural-historical derivations. Rather, the rhythmic sequence of the gates, which always ran at the same distance, and the energetically glowing orange of the fabric panels were intended to make walking along the paths a singular and momentary art experience in public space. Focused entirely on the perception of the present, according to Jeanne-Claude this production had no other purpose than to convey a fleeting moment of “joy and beauty”.
The cost of the project was immense and is estimated at 21 million US dollars. From today’s perspective, it is hard to imagine how the artists were able to turn this temporary work into reality over such a long period of time, including the financial and organizational burden. However, it is precisely this perseverance, adherence to artistic visions and charismatic persuasiveness that characterizes the great work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude: they never made themselves dependent on financial backers, they financed all projects themselves, well in advance, through the sale of preparatory signed sketches, drawings, collages and prints. Grandiose self-staging in public and a clever communication strategy helped to anticipate the success of the projects and link them with social significance and cultural status from the outset.