Profiterole (Gray State)
started 1989, published 1990
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
color lithograph on gray John Koller HMP handmade paper
Dimensions
sheet: 78.9 × 103.03 cm (31 1/16 × 40 9/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Lee and Ann Fensterstock
Accession Number
2000.177.57
Art Historical Context
Claes Oldenburg, a leading figure in the Pop Art movement, often transformed ordinary consumer objects into whimsical, monumental subjects. In *Profiterole (Gray State)*, he turns his attention to the classic French cream puff pastry, rendering it with the playful exaggeration that defines his career. Created between 1989 and 1990, the work captures the dessert’s soft, layered form in a way that invites viewers to reconsider the familiar through an artistic lens. This color lithograph, printed on gray handmade paper, showcases Oldenburg’s mastery of printmaking techniques. Lithography allowed...
About the Artist
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg, born January 28, 1929, in Stockholm, Sweden, to diplomat Gösta Oldenburg and Sigrid Elisabeth Lindforss, spent much of his childhood abroad before his family settled in Chicago in 1936, where his father served as Swedish consul general. He attended the Latin School of Chicago, then studied literature and art history at Yale University from 1946 to 1950, followed by classes at the ...