Christo and Jeanne-Claude first proposed the idea for The Gates twenty-six years earlier, but
New York officials at that time did not welcome the project. ln the course of trying to get
permission from the city offices in charge of the park, the artists received a vast collection of
documents. These include a245-page book published in 1981, which explained why the protect
could not be completed. Christo and Jeanne-Claude have kept all these documents, along with all
the drawings and papers regarding the design, which they consider to be part of the artwork
itself. No matter how long and frustrating it was, getting permission was part of the process of
creating The Gates. Christo and Jeanne-Claude recognize that their artwork, in this case, was not
made about Central Park; it was made out of Cenlral Park.