Opening recently at SFMOMA is Thinking Big, a series of models of projects by the husband-and-wife art duo Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. The exhibition is a look inside the processes of Pop Art. For over three decades, the couple transformed everyday, domestic objects — a clothespin, a flashlight, an ice cream cone, a box of matches — into giant urban sculptures. The presentation is part of a larger project, Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10, opening in the spring of 2026. Thinking Big offers a preview of the new exhibition design and gallery interpretation.
The models
This collection features models of the pair’s most beloved projects, including San Francisco’s own Cupid’s Span (2002). As an iconic part of the Embarcadero, the 70-foot partial bow and piece of an arrow stake their claim to the ground, a whimsical Pop Art monument to a weapon of love and a cherished public work synonymous with the spirit of San Francisco. The bow symbolizes the city’s reputation as the home of Eros and romantic love, and the arc of the bow echoes the curves of the nearby San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Geometric Apple Core (1991) is a monument to refuse. The apple is spent, consumed with bite marks included as ripples on the surface, residual pulp browning with age, the remaining core tilted to one side, nearly giving up and falling to the ground. The final version, Apple Core (1992), is located at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Some consider it a statement against nature, interpreting the apple core as litter representing humankind’s disregard for the natural world.
Inverted Collar and Tie – Third Version (1993) is a humorous take on the necktie. The tie itself, secured around a collar, sits while the end of the tie coils into the air, poised like a serpent about to strike. The conservative blue-and-white stripes on the tie are a reference to the business world and office culture — the resulting sculpture from 1994 was placed in Frankfurt’s banking district, Westend, in front of the Westend Tower.
Other small-scale models include Sculpture in the Form of a Match Cover (1987). Bent, burnt, and discarded matches twist on the ground with tiny black figures representing people, and thus the scale of the final work. The matchbook sits upright, the match cover bent back to reveal one match in the moment of ignition, the blue flame of combustion erupting upward. The final sculptural form became the giant Mistos (Matches) installed in Barcelona for the 1992 Olympics.
Playful and profoundly human, their work collapses the boundaries between the everyday and the monumental.
Between 1976 and 2009, the husband-and-wife team created more than 40 “Large-Scale Projects” in cities around the world. Oldenburg and van Bruggen collaborated closely using drawings, models, and written notes. Using this information, they partnered with skilled fabricators, structural engineers, and many others to translate their visions into reality. What are we to make of everyday objects taken out of context, and blown up to a gigantic size, placed in a city square or park? Playful and profoundly human, their work collapses the boundaries between the everyday and the monumental.
The new Fisher Collection galleries
Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10 will feature nearly 250 works by 35 artists. They will mark a complete transformation of the Fisher Collection since it opened to the public as a part of SFMOMA’s building expansion in 2016. Spanning approximately 60,000 square feet across four floors of the museum, the presentation will give visitors new insight into how the collection was formed and those who made it possible. It will also include a new studio space that invites families and visitors of all ages to participate in hands-on activities related to themes explored in the galleries.
“The forthcoming presentation of the Fisher Collection will be a revelation in its storytelling about artists, collectors, and the social dynamics that inspired and shaped them,” said Christopher Bedford, SFMOMA’s Helen and Charles Schwab Director. “So often displays of modern and contemporary art focus on conceptual and stylistic movements. With Reimagined: The Fisher Collection at 10, we have upended that model to focus on sharing stories that are compelling, relatable and which capture the enduring power of the works on view. I am immensely grateful to the Fisher family for their incredible support and for giving us the opportunity to experiment and generate new approaches in service to an exceptional visitor experience.”