Claes Oldenburg was a Swedish-born American sculptor renowned for his imaginative, large-scale reconstructions of everyday objects. Born in 1929 in Stockholm, Oldenburg's family moved to the United States in 1936, where he later studied literature and art history at Yale University. After further studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, he moved to New York in 1956 and quickly became a key figure in the burgeoning Pop Art movement.

Oldenburg's early work in the late 1950s and early 1960s centered around Happenings and performance art, with notable pieces such as The Street (1960) and The Store (1961), where he presented everyday objects made of plaster. He is particularly famous for pioneering "soft sculptures," starting with Sausage (1957), and for his larger-than-life public monuments like Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks at Yale University in 1969.

In the mid-1970s, Oldenburg began a long and productive collaboration with his wife, artist Coosje van Bruggen. Together, they created numerous iconic outdoor sculptures, including Clothespin in Philadelphia and Free Stamp in Cleveland. Their partnership with architect Frank Gehry also led to groundbreaking works that blurred the lines between sculpture and architecture.

Oldenburg's work has been featured in major retrospectives, including exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. His creations are part of significant collections worldwide, from the Tate Gallery in London to the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Oldenburg passed away in New York on July 18, 2022.