CHRISTO and Jeanne-Claude's vision for Over The River was conceived in 1992 and included 9.5 kilometers of silvery, luminous fabric panels suspended high above the water in eight distinct areas along a 67.6-kilometer stretch of the Arkansas River between Caņon City and Salida in south-central Colorado.

In August 1992, 1993, and 1994, searching for a site for the project, CHRISTO and Jeanne-Claude and their team traveled 22,530 kilometers through the Rocky Mountains in the United States. During these trips, the team surveyed eighty-nine rivers across seven states, and six potential locations were found. After revisiting the six sites in the summer of 1996, the Arkansas River in Colorado was selected.

CHRISTO received all necessary federal, state, and local permits required to realize Over The River in 2011, when the United States Department of the Interior announced its Record of Decision. This federal action was the final step of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), typically reserved for major infrastructures such as bridges, highways, dams, and airports. The EIS for Over The River, the first ever completed for an artwork, began in the spring of 2009 and was prepared by the Bureau of Land Management, Royal Gorge Field Office, resulting in a comprehensive 1,686-page analysis.

In 2012, a local group opposed to this temporary artwork filed lawsuits against Colorado State Parks in State Court and against the United States federal government, Bureau of Land Management, in US Federal Court. In January 2017, after pursuing Over The River, Project for the Arkansas River - State of Colorado, for 20 years and after five years of legal arguments, CHRISTO decided no longer to wait for the outcome and to devote all his energy, time, and resources to the realization of The Mastaba, Project for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

(Text extracted from the website Christo & Jeanne-Claude)

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