The NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale has become the permanent home of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "Surrounded Islands," featuring over 43 original preparatory drawings and collages by Christo, along with large-scale photo murals, photographs, engineering surveys, environmental reports, permits, personal correspondence, scale models, and actual fabric segments from the project. The exhibition is ongoing and includes rare archival materials gifted by the Christo and Jeanne-Claude Foundation.
This matters because it establishes a lasting institutional legacy for one of the most iconic environmental art projects of the 20th century, ensuring that the public can continue to engage with Christo and Jeanne-Claude's transformative vision. By anchoring the work in a Florida museum near the original Biscayne Bay site, the exhibition preserves the artists' belief that the experience of their temporary installations remains permanent in viewers' minds, while also providing scholars and visitors access to extensive archival materials that document the project's ambitious scope.