Claes Oldenburg: The Screwarch Project (1983)

Stiff wrappers, 8.75 x 9;75 inches, 48 pages, b&w

Dutch & English

Claes Oldenburg became impressed with the Dutch landscape, the harbour city of Rotterdam and the bridge during a stay in the Netherlands. Rotterdam's plans for the construction of a bridge over the New Maas were the inspiration for this sculpture. For the New Maas he imagined a bridge in the shape of a gigantic screw. The museum director at the time - Wim Beeren - reached an agreement with Oldenburg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen in 1978 that they would turn this idea into a model, an etching and a large sculpture for the collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. The screw sculpture would not turn out to be as large as a bridge over the New Maas, but it was made to a size that would precisely fit in the museum. The screw bridge was exhibited in the museum in 1983. It was quickly decided, however, that the work would be given a permanent place in the museum's sculpture garden. Claes Oldenburg himself chose this place next to the pond, which in his eyes suited the sculpture the best