About Claes Oldenburg
Made hard objects soft and small objects enormous. Giant clothespins, lipsticks, and an upside-down ice cream cone on a building in Cologne.
Where to see Claes Oldenburg
Collection holdings are reported here; current display varies. Check with each museum before visiting.
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90 recorded worksNational Gallery of Art
Washington D.C., United States
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7 recorded works
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Rotterdam, Netherlands
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4 recorded works
Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
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2 recorded works
Museum of Modern Art
New York City, United States
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2 recorded works
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Washington D.C., United States
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1 recorded work
Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Buffalo, United States
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1 recorded work
Allen Memorial Art Museum
Oberlin, United States
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1 recorded work
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
San Francisco, United States
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1 recorded work
Whitney Museum of American Art
New York City, United States
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1 recorded work
Dallas Museum of Art
Dallas, United States
View all 19 museums
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1 recorded work
Denver Art Museum
Denver, United States
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1 recorded work
International Sculpture Collection
Rotterdam, Netherlands
Also here (2)
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1 recorded work
Chicago
Chicago, United States
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1 recorded work
Israel Museum
Jerusalem, Israel
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1 recorded work
Seattle Art Museum
Seattle, United States
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1 recorded work
collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal
Montreal, Canada
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1 recorded work
Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York City, United States
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1 recorded work
Kröller-Müller Museum
Otterlo, Netherlands
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1 recorded work
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, United States
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did Claes Oldenburg live?
Claes Oldenburg lived in the United States and Norway before settling in Chicago in 1936. Later, he lived in New York.Who was Claes Oldenburg inspired by?
Claes Oldenburg was caught up in the excitement around Happenings and other nontraditional forms of art making.Why did Claes Oldenburg become an artist?
Claes Oldenburg became an artist after being caught up in the excitement around Happenings and other nontraditional art forms in New York during the late 1950s. He then began producing sculptural objects.When did Claes Oldenburg start making art?
Claes Oldenburg began producing sculptural objects of cloth, plaster, papier mâché, and paint in the late 1950s after moving to New York and becoming involved in Happenings and other nontraditional art forms.Was Claes Oldenburg a pop artist?
Claes Oldenburg's work went beyond the limits one would ordinarily assign to the Pop sensibility, using irony to take on the full weight of the American commonplace.Why did Claes Oldenburg make his sculptures?
Claes Oldenburg began producing sculptural objects of cloth, plaster, papier mâché, and paint after becoming caught up in the excitement around Happenings and other nontraditional forms of art making in New York during the late 1950s. His breakthrough came at this time.Is Claes Oldenburg dead?
Claes Oldenburg died in 2022, at ninety-three.When did Claes Oldenburg move to america?
Claes Oldenburg moved to America as a child, settling in Chicago in 1936.
Sources
Where to See guide aggregates verified holdings of Claes Oldenburg's works across the following collections.
- [1] museum Buffalo AKG Art Museum Used for: museum holdings.
- [2] museum Allen Memorial Art Museum Used for: museum holdings.
- [3] museum Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Used for: museum holdings.
- [4] museum Cleveland Museum of Art Used for: museum holdings.
- [5] museum Whitney Museum of American Art Used for: museum holdings.
- [6] museum Denver Art Museum Used for: museum holdings.
- [7] book Jed Perl, Art in America 1945-1970 Used for: biography.
- [8] book guggenheim-popicons00gugg Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-09-30. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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