Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg is of Swedish origin and studied art and literature at Yale University and subsequently, from 1950 to 1954, at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Objects from everyday life, such as food, vehicles and pieces of clothing, have been important subjects for the work of Claes Oldenburg from the very beginning of his career. He made plaster models of food and made hard objects like a sink or a bath in soft materials such as rubber. In 1961 he opened his studio in New York to the public and called it 'The Store'. He presented his art works there as if they were on sale in a supermarket. He later worked together with his wife, the Dutch artist Coosje van Bruggen. They primarily made large sculptures for public spaces, such as parks, squares and, like the screw bridge for Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, in and around museums.