Christo and Jeanne-Claude are possibly the best-known artists in America today in part because much of their work – such as “The Gates,” 7,503 saffron-colored fabric panels displayed for 16 days in New York’s Central Park last winter – takes place outdoors and is free to the public. They move indoors this month to the Portland Museum of Art, where an exhibition of five decades of preparatory collages, drawings, photographs and early works from the 1950s and 1960s will be on view Nov. 3-Dec. 31. The two will talk about their work at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 9 at Merrill Auditorium in Portland. Following is an excerpt from a conversation between the artists and BDN reporter Alicia Anstead.

You work for 17 hours a day with no holidays. What do you do for fun?

Christo: Our art is our life. We have fun doing art.

Do you have a philosophical hero?

Christo: I never think about that.

Jeanne-Claude: No, we don’t. I think we are not intelligent enough to have a philosophical hero.

You talk about being born on the same day at the same time. What does that mean to you?

Jeanne-Claude: Nothing. As my mother said, we save on birthday cakes.

One winter I was in the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris. All the statues were wrapped. It was utilitarian but very haunting. Was it art?

Jeanne-Claude: No, because the intention was not to create a work of art but to protect and restore those statues.

Many artists don’t talk about the intentions of their work, but you do. Should more artists talk about their intentions?

Jeanne-Claude: No, no, no, no. Absolutely not. When we say we wish to create a work of art of joy and beauty, that is because Christo and I are joyous people. We love life.

You’re such enterprising and good business partners. What business tips do you have for other artists?

Christo: We cannot give advice. Art is so private. It’s almost like asking how to love somebody.

Jeanne-Claude: Anybody who is ready to work 17 hours a day, never take a vacation and concentrate on what they want, they will be able to do it. The difficult part is to know what they want.

Was it difficult for you to know exactly what you wanted?

Jeanne-Claude: No, that was very easy. I wanted Christo. If he had been a dentist, I would have become a dentist.

Who is your favorite artist?

Christo: We have many favorite artists.

Jeanne-Claude: One of them is Giotto.

Why do you think people are so moved by the impermanence of your artwork?

Christo: The work develops an energy and dynamic that appears once. It creates an urgency to be seen, because tomorrow it will be gone forever. It will be never again.

Jeanne-Claude: Like our life.

Are you always asked to keep the art up longer?

Jeanne-Claude: Always. And we have said no way.

Which is the art: Your models and drawings that will be at the Portland Museum of Art or the outdoor manifestations of them?

Christo: Everything is art, of course.

Have you been to Maine?

Jeanne-Claude: Yes. We have been to Maine because our son was in Camp Wildwood when he was 10 years old.

Christo: In 1981, we had an exhibition in Waterville at Colby College and 1981 also at the University of Maine in Orono.

Well, welcome back.

Christo: We are happy to come back.