Monthly Archives: August 2026

Most Important Sculptures Since 1945: Two Lists

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The New York Times recently published a list of the 25 most important sculptures since 1945. The list was curated by a panel of distinguished contemporary artists, who engaged in spirited debates, some of which have been transcribed in the article. The panel’s definition of “sculpture” was quite broad, and included at least one work I thought of as performance art (Pope.L,’s “The Great White Way: 22 miles, 9 Years, 1 Street”), as well as a number of temporary installations. The panel also appeared to have a “one work per artist” rule. For those who cannot penetrate the paywall, here is the NYT list:

  1. David Smith, “Hudson River Landscape,” 1951
  2. Lygia Clark, “Bichos,” 1959-66
  3. Kara Walker, “A Subtlety,” 2014
  4. Claes Oldenburg, “The Store,” 1961
  5. Melvin Edwards, “Lynch Fragments,” 1963-2026
  6. Marisol, “Women and Dog,” 1963-64
  7. Noah Purifoy, “66 Signs of Neon,” 1966
  8. Robert Rauschenberg, “Bed,” 1955
  9. Richard Serra, “Tilted Arc,” 1981
  10. Robert Smithson, “Spiral Jetty,” 1970
  11. Eva Hesse, “Contingent,” 1969
  12. Gordon Matta-Clark, “Splitting,” 1974
  13. Louise Bourgeois, “The Destruction of the Father,” 1974
  14. Christo and Jeanne-Claude, “Surrounded Islands, Biscayne Bay, Greater Miami, Florida, 1980-83”
  15. David Hammons, “African-American Flag,” 1990
  16. Rirkrit Tiravanija, “Untitled 1990 (Pad Thai)”
  17. Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “‘Untitled’ (Portrait of Ross in L.A.),” 1991
  18. Martin Puryear, “Liberty/Libertà” at the Venice Biennale, 2019
  19. Pope.L, “The Great White Way: 22 miles, 9 Years, 1 Street,” 2001-09
  20. Lauren Halsey, “The Eastside of South Central Los Angeles Hieroglyph Prototype Architecture (I),” 2023
  21. Louise Nevelson, “Sky Cathedral,” 1958
  22. Isamu Noguchi, “Sunken Garden for Chase Manhattan Bank Plaza,” 1961-64
  23. Isa Genzken, “Fuck the Bauhaus: New Buildings for New York,” 2000
  24. Alexander Calder, “Black Widow,” 1948

I decided to go through my visual arts meta-lists to find the most-listed sculptures since 1945 and provide an alternative list. I eliminated performance art, but I did include a number of temporary installations. I was disappointed to find that my list has no works of art after 2014, and only one Black American artist. I apologize for these defects. I hope that future meta-lists will have more diversity and more recent works, as I find more recent lists and add them to the meta-lists. My list (which, I must emphasize, does not reflect my personal opinions, but the results of collecting lists I found in books and on the Internet) also includes multiple works by several artists, including Richard Serra, Jeff Koons, Joseph Beuys, Christo & Jeanne-Claude, and Damien Hirst. Here are 51 sculptures (broadly defined) from 1945-Present, in chronological order (I’ve added an asterisk for works on the NYT list).

  1. Ossip Zadkine, “The Destroyed City” (1947)
  2. Jasper Johns, “Target with Plaster Casts” (1955)
  3. Robert Rauschenberg, “Bed” (1955)*
  4. Robert Rauschenberg, “Monogram” (1959)
  5. Jasper Johns, “Painted Bronze (Ale Cans)” (1960)
  6. Claes Oldenburg, “Floor Burger” (1962)
  7. Joseph Beuys, ‘Fat Chair” (1964)
  8. Edward Kienholz, “The Birthday” (1964)
  9. Donald Judd, “Untitled (Stack)” (series) (1965- c. 1994)
  10. Eva Hesse, “Hang Up” (1966)
  11. Joseph Beuys, “Homogenous Infiltration for Grand Piano” (1966)
  12. Carl Andre, “Equivalent I-VIII” (1966)
  13. Yayoi Kusama, “Narcissus Garden” (1966)
  14. Barnett Newman, “Broken Obelisk” (1967)
  15. Duane Hanson, “Tourists” (1970)
  16. Robert Smithson, “Spiral Jetty” (1970)*
  17. Gordon Matta-Clark, “Splitting” (1974)*
  18. Christo & Jeanne-Claude, “Running Fence” (1976)
  19. Walter De Maria, “The Lightning Field” (1977)
  20. Judy Chicago, “The Dinner Party” (1979)
  21. Richard Serra, “Tilted Arc” (1981)*
  22. Joseph Beuys, “7,000 Oaks” (1982)
  23. Marta Minujin, “The Parthenon of Books” (1983, 2017)
  24. Ilya Kavakov, “The Man Who Flew into Space from His Apartment” (1985)
  25. Christo & Jeanne-Claude, “The Pont Neuf Wrapped” (1985)
  26. Donald Judd, “Untitled (installation of 100 mill-aluminum boxes)” (1982-1986)
  27. Jeff Koons, “Rabbit” (1986)
  28. Louise Bourgeois, “Cells” (series) (1989-2008)
  29. Damien Hirst, “A Thousand Years” (1990)
  30. Jeff Koons, “Made in Heaven” (series) (1990-1991)
  31. Antony Gormley, “Field” (1991)
  32. Damien Hirst, “Natural History” (series) (1991-2021)
  33. Damien Hirst, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” (from Natural History series) (1991)
  34. Jeff Koons, “Puppy” (1992)
  35. Martin Kippenberger, “The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’” (1994)
  36. Jeff Koons, “Balloon Dog” (series) (1994-2000)
  37. Christo & Jeanne-Claude, “The Reichstag Wrapped” (1995)
  38. Richard Serra, “Torqued Ellipses” (series) (1996-2004)
  39. Chen Zhen, “Jue Chang – Fifty Strokes to Each” (1998)
  40. Antony Gormley, “Angel of the North” (1998)
  41. Maurizio Cattelan, “La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour)” (1999)
  42. Louise Bourgeois, “Maman” (1999)
  43. Olafur Eliasson, “The Weather Project” (2003)
  44. Richard Serra – “The Matter of Time” (2005)
  45. Anish Kapoor, “Cloud Gate” (2006)
  46. Damien Hirst, “For the Love of God” (2007)
  47. Olafur Eliasson, “New York City Waterfalls” (2008)
  48. Mike Kelley, “Mobile Homestead” (2010)
  49. Ai Weiwei, “Sunflower Seeds (Kui Hua Zi)” (2010-2011)
  50. Kara Walker, “A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby…” (2014)*
  51. James Turrell, “Roden Crater” (unfinished) (1977-Ongoing)