The Umbrellas

Two other modern artists, a married couple, Christo and Jeanne-Claude, have attracted both positive and negative reactions for decades. Most notably known for wrapping things as varied as trees, pictures, and even walkways, the couple embarked on a different venture in 1991. They raised $26 million for an umbrella project in which 3100 blue and yellow umbrellas were installed and opened in both California and Japan.

Approximately 60 miles north of Los Angeles, California, 1760 yellow umbrellas were installed and opened on October 9, 1991 across 18 miles. That same morning 75 miles north of Japan, 1340 blue umbrellas opened along a 12 mile stretch. Each umbrella was almost 20 feet in height, 28.5 feet in diameter, and weighed 448 pounds. Over 1800 workers helped with the preparation and implementation of this project

Why do you suppose the artists selected umbrellas? What do umbrellas provide us? Attempt to determine why this object was their chosen subject matter.