Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish painter and object artist. As a major figure in American Pop Art, he focuses on representations of subtle everyday objects created from 'banal' materials. Oldenburg has worked with the Dutch artist Coosje van Bruggen since 1976. They have been married since 1977.
Oldenburg created his first Soft Sculptures and vinyl sculptures in 1963. Since 1965 he concentrated on producing colossal works in which he defamiliarised everyday objects by monumentalising them. His work symbolises consumer greed, sexual desires and the obsessions of a civilisation he views as morbid. Oldenburg took part in the Venice Biennale in 1964 and 1968. He was represented at documenta in Kassel in 1968, 1972, 1977 and 1982. Two sculpture exhibitions have been dedicated to him in Münster, the first in 1977 and the second in 1997.