WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Claes Oldenburg

Claes Oldenburg

1929–2022

WA-00002919

Stockholm, Sweden

Post-Impressionism

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

140

Works in Collection

316

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

100%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (2)

WikidataQ156731

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

Borderline

Paula Cooper Gallery

2025

No image

Claes Oldenburg: Drawn from Life

Whitney Museum of American Art

2025

No image

Claes Oldenburg & Peter Moore

Paula Cooper Gallery

2025

Field Verification (7 fields)

4 cross-verified · 3 single-source

Death yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
Birth yearWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
DeceasedWikidata + Unknown· 92%✓
LocationArtsy + Gallery· 85%✓
NationalityArtsy + Unknown· 85%
BiographyGallery Generic + Unknown· 72%
Primary mediumUnknown· 20%

Source Registry (5)

Marian-Goodmanhttps://www.mariangoodman.com/artists/
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Paula-Cooperhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/claes-oldenburg
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Christies-Artsyhttps://www.artsy.net/artist/claes-oldenburg
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
Sothebyshttps://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/claes-oldenburg
Tier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/4397
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

No biography available for Claes Oldenburg yet.

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

Post-Impressionism

Medium

—

Related Artists

12 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Cleveland Museum of Art Tate Whitney Museum of American Art Whitney Museum of American Art San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Art Institute of Chicago

Canonical record

Artworks (140)

Pizza / Palette

1996 · Lithograph

sheet: 29 3/8 × 38 1/2" (74.6 × 97.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Saw / Tie

1994 · Charcoal and pastel on paper

Sheet: 49 3/4 × 38 1/4 in. (126.4 × 97.2 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Soft Saxophone (Black, Yellow, Red)

1992 · Lithograph

composition and sheet: 34 7/8 × 43 3/4" (88.6 × 111.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Soft Pencil Sharpener

1989 · Lithograph

Sheet (sight): 31 1/2 × 41 in. (80 × 104.1 cm) Image (sight): 31 1/2 × 41 in. (80 × 104.1 cm)

Whitney Museum of American Art

Apple Core, Black & White State

1989 · Lithograph

composition (irreg.): 17 x 13 13/16" (43.2 x 35.1cm); sheet (irreg.): 31 1/2 x 22 1/2" (80 x 57.1cm)

Museum of Modern Art

The Dropped Bowl, with Scattering Slices and Peels–In Advance of the Fountain for Metro-Dade Government Center

1988 · Offset lithograph

composition (irreg.): 31 × 22 3/16" (78.8 × 56.4 cm); sheet: 36 1/4 × 24 3/8" (92 × 61.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Colossal Monument with Mushroom and Screw (Project for John Cage Homage)

1987 · Felt-tip pen on paper

13 3/8 × 9 1/2" (34 × 24.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Characters and Props from "Il Corso del Coltello" Along the Canale do San Marco, Coltello Ship in "Background - Version II"

1986 · Pastel, charcoal, and pencil on paper

29 7/8 x 39 3/4" (75.5 x 100.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Proposal for a Monument to the Survival of the University of El Salvador: Blasted Pencil (That Still Writes)

1984 · Etching and aquatint

plate: 6 15/16 × 20 13/16" (17.7 × 52.9 cm); sheet: 22 13/16 × 30 1/4" (58 × 76.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Screwarch Bridge State II

1980 · Etching on paper

image: 595 x 1285 mm

Tate

Screwarch Bridge, state II

1980 · Etching and aquatint

plate: 23 11/16 × 50 3/4" (60.2 × 128.9 cm); sheet: 31 3/16 × 57 7/8" (79.2 × 147 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Postcard of the Spoon of the Ile St. Louis with Needles

1979 · color etching and aquatint

Cleveland Museum of Art

Fagend Studies

1976 · Charcoal and chalk on paper

101.7 × 76.2 cm (40 1/16 × 30 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago Stuffed with Numbers

1976 · Color lithograph from five aluminum plates and four stones on white wove paper

Image: 97 × 66.8 cm (38 1/4 × 26 5/16 in.); Sheet: 120.7 × 80.3 cm (47 9/16 × 31 5/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Landscape with Noses

1976 · Etching

plate: 6 3/16 x 6 13/16" (15.7 x 17.3 cm); sheet: 20 3/8 x 15 11/16" (51.8 x 39.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Colossal Tea Bags in City Square

1976 · Etching and aquatint

plate: 14 9/16 × 18 5/8" (37 × 47.3 cm); sheet: 22 1/16 × 26 1/8" (56 × 66.4 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

WattsOS

Floating Three-Way Plug

1976 · Etching and aquatint

plate: 42 1/16 × 32 3/8" (106.9 × 82.2 cm); sheet: 49 3/4 × 38 3/8" (126.4 × 97.5 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Soft Screw in Waterfall

1976 · Lithograph

composition (irreg.): 47 11/16 × 36 7/8" (121.1 × 93.6 cm); sheet: 67 5/16 × 45" (171 × 114.3 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Clothespin

1975 · Cor-ten and stainless steel

304.8 × 111.8 × 61 cm (120 × 44 × 24 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Arched Soft Screw as Building

1975 · Lithograph in black on cream wove paper

171.5 × 114.3 cm (67 9/16 × 45 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Spoon Pier

1975 · Color soft ground etching from four copper plates, sugar lift, and aquatint, on off-white wove paper

Image/plate: 32 × 26.3 cm (12 5/8 × 10 3/8 in.); Sheet: 71.7 × 56 cm (28 1/4 × 22 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Tea Pot

1975 · Lithograph from one stone on light tan Balinese paper, tipped onto brown Japanese paper

Image: 30 × 39 cm (11 13/16 × 15 3/8 in.); Primary support: 45.5 × 64.5 cm (17 15/16 × 25 7/16 in.); Secondary support: 46.5 × 66.9 cm (18 5/16 × 26 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Geometric Mouse, Scale A

1975 · Painted aluminum and steel

12' 1 1/2" x 12' 6" x 14' 10 1/4" (369.7 x 381.2 x 452.9 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Landscape with Noses

1975 · Aquatint and etching

plate: 6 1/4 x 6 13/16" (15.8 x 17.3 cm); sheet: 26 5/16 x 20 1/8" (66.8 x 51.1 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

View all 140 artworks →

Artwork sources (5)

140 published of 247 catalogued · 182 with image

MoMA
103 publishedof 210 catalogued154 img
Art Institute Chicago
21 published21 img
Tate
7 published7 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
6 published
Whitney
3 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 2)

2 entries · 1 sources

Giant Toothpaste Tube (Cap)
1964 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Notes: Untitled (City as Alphabet)
1968 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

60 assets

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

View all 60 media items →

Relationships

Peers & Context28

Sam Durantco-exhibited Liz Glynnco-exhibitedCynthia Hawkinsco-exhibitedDouglas Hueblerco-exhibited Terry Adkinsco-exhibited Carl Andreco-exhibited

Movements1

Post-Impressionism

Collections9

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum Cleveland Museum of Art Tate Whitney Museum of American Art San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Phillips

Institutional

Representation & Collections

Gallery

Paula Cooper Gallery

In collection

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

In collection

Cleveland Museum of Art

In collection

Tate

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

In collection

Whitney Museum of American Art

In collection

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Background

Education

Yale University

Visual Arts

Latin School of Chicago

Visual Arts

Network

Related Artists

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Exhibition Claes Oldenburg: Drawn from Life

2025

Group Exhibition Claes Oldenburg & Peter Moore

2025

Group Exhibition Borderline

2025

Exhibition Claes Oldenburg + Coosje van Bruggen: Thinking Big