Surrounded Islands was realized in May 1983, with 6.5 million square feet of floating woven polypropylene fabric to create striking pink margins around 11 islands along the length of Biscayne Bay. The installation remained in place for two weeks, though its realization took over three years and cost more than $3 million. The project was paid entirely by the artists through the sale of original works by Christo such as those included in this donation. The idea for the work originally started in 1980, when the artists were invited to create an artwork for the 1982 New World Festival of the Arts. Over the next three years they made proposals and obtained permits from agencies including: the Governor of Florida and the Cabinet; the Dade County Commission; the Department of Environmental Regulation; the City of Miami Commission; the City of North Miami; the Village of Miami Shores; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the Dade County Department of Environmental Resources management, and they gained the cooperation of the many environmental activists and residents, working to ensure the protection of the marine wildlife that inhabited the islands’ shores.