Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Swedish-American / Dutch-American·1929–2022
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Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen collaborated on large-scale public sculptures from 1976 until van Bruggen's death in 2009. Oldenburg, a Swedish-born American Pop Art pioneer, had been making oversized soft sculptures of everyday objects since the 1960s. Van Bruggen, a Dutch art historian and curator, brought conceptual rigor and research depth to their joint projects.
Together they created some of the most recognizable public sculptures in the world: Spoonbridge and Cherry in Minneapolis, Shuttlecocks at the Nelson-Atkins Museum, and Saw, Sawing in Tokyo. Their colossal everyday objects, placed in urban plazas and parks, injected humor and surprise into cityscapes across three continents.
Sculptures by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
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Museums with Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen's Work
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About Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen
Their best-known collaborations include Spoonbridge and Cherry in Minneapolis, Shuttlecocks in Kansas City, Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, and Saw, Sawing in Tokyo. All transform mundane objects into monumental public art.
Their works stand in cities worldwide, including Minneapolis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Tokyo. The National Gallery of Art sculpture garden in Washington, D.C. has Typewriter Eraser, Scale X.
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