Blog Post

World's Largest Umbrella Sculpture: world record in Des Moines, Iowa

Jun 21, 2023

Des Moines, Iowa, United States--The Umbrella of Crusoe, a large steel sculpture by artist Claes Oldenburg, sits across Third Street from the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines; the 20,000-pound, 53-foot-long sculpture was commissioned by the Civic Center for $125,000 and is made of weathering steel and painted with a polyurethane enamel, setting the world record for being the World's Largest Umbrella Sculpture, according to the WORLD RECORD ACADEMY.

"This iconic sculpture is made of weathering steel and painted with a polyurethane enamel to help it endure the extreme climates to which public art in the Midwest is subject," the Des Moines Public Art Foundation says.

"It was fabricated by Lippincott, Inc. in North Haven, Connecticut. The engineer is J. Robert Jennings.

"The public work of art was commissioned in September 1978 by the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, with a matching grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and donations from local sources. It was installed November 27, 1979 and inaugurated November 29, 1979."

"Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published on 25 April 1719. The first edition credited the work's protagonist Robinson Crusoe as its author, leading many readers to believe he was a real person and the book a travelogue of true incidents.

"Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is presented as an autobiography of the title character (whose birth name is Robinson Kreutznaer) – a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical desert island near the coasts of Venezuela and Trinidad, roughly resembling Tobago,[3][4] encountering cannibals, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. The story has been thought to be based on the life of Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish castaway who lived for four years on a Pacific island called "Más a Tierra" (now part of Chile) which was renamed Robinson Crusoe Island in 1966.

"Despite its simple narrative style, Robinson Crusoe was well received in the literary world and is often credited as marking the beginning of realistic fiction as a literary genre. It is generally seen as a contender for the first English novel. Before the end of 1719, the book had already run through four editions, and it has gone on to become one of the most widely published books in history, spawning so many imitations, not only in literature but also in film, television, and radio, that its name is used to define a genre, the Robinsonade." (Wikipedia)

"A visit the previous year to Coosje’s bearded father, a retired physician tending his garden in the North of the Netherlands had inspired a comparison to Robinson Crusoe, resulting in an etching of the legendary figure’s hand-made umbrella, the first object made by the castaway and one of the few he took away with him when he was rescued," the Claes Oldenburg & Coosje van Bruggen said.

"The umbrella of Crusoe was as structured as it had to be, yet organic in form, made of branches and plants on the island. This image became our point of departure. We wanted to place an exotic element in the midst of prosaic circumstances and turn the center of the continent paradoxically into an island in the sea.

"Consistent with Coosje’s desire to originate the subject in plant forms, one of our first models was made of the sawed-off branches of our Christmas tree, which developed through models that followed into flat segments with organic contours overlapping one another, curving where necessary to form the skeletal shape of a huge, opened umbrella, 37 feet high, reclining mysteriously on the regular pattern of the concrete plaza. The handle, which was part of the sculpture closest to the spectator, was treated as a sculpture in itself, with a prominent curled shape at the top."

"The Swedish-born Oldenburg drew on the sculptor’s eternal interest in form, the dadaist’s breakthrough notion of bringing readymade objects into the realm of art, and the pop artist’s ironic, outlaw fascination with lowbrow culture — by reimagining ordinary items in fantastic contexts," the Des Moines Register says.

"The pair based the idea of Des Moines' "Crusoe Umbrella," a large steel sculpture that sits across Third Street from the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines, on Oldenburg's memories of reading "Robinson Crusoe" as a child.

"The 20,000-pound, 53-foot-long sculpture was commissioned by the Civic Center for $125,000 and completed in November 1979 on the northeast corner of what was then known as Nollen Plaza, now Cowles Commons."

"Originally known as Nollen Plaza, Cowles Commons was completed in 2015 and represents a significant commitment by DMPA to give back to the community," the Des Moines Performing Arts says.

"The newly designed space retains the popular Crusoe Umbrella by artist Claes Oldenburg and adds lighting sculpture Swirl by artist Jim Campbell. Joining the sculptures is the popular zero-depth Lauridsen Fountain which can be enjoyed throughout the warm months.

"The space was designed to be multifunctional and hosts numerous community events."

"The Crusoe Umbrella was commissioned in September 1978 by the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines. It was created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. This sculpture was installed on November 27th, 1979. From when the artists first had the idea for it, it took a little over a year before it was finally completed," the smore.com says.

"The two artists who created this wanted it to resemble the umbrella of Robinson Crusoe (who was inspiration for the name). They wanted to have more organic subjects, unlike other sculptures like this that use geometric ones. One of the first models for the sculpture was made of branches from their Christmas tree. The place where the Crusoe Umbrella stands is like an island In the surroundings of the city, and there is a pool of water on one side of it.

"In my opinion, the Crusoe Umbrella is a very interesting sculpture. I think it is neat how one of the first models was made of branches from a Christmas tree. I like how it is something that stands out in the middle of city life. The artist captured the shape very well. There is a sense of motion created by the angles."

"Cowles Commons replaced the existing Nollen Plaza, which was built back in the 1970s on one city block in the heart of downtown Des Moines. The only items to remain from the original Nollen Plaza were seven red oak trees and the Crusoe Umbrella Sculpture from Claus Oldenburg and Coosji VanBruggen. As part of the project, the Crusoe Umbrella was sandblasted and repainted to its original color," the weitz.com says.

"The site is broken into three separate areas. The north grove has standard sidewalks and multiple planter areas with cast stone benches, the original oak trees and the Crusoe Umbrella. The red carpet area is a large paver zone (approximately the size of a football field) with black and red granite pavers along with red clay pavers.

"Within the red carpet area is a 3,200-square-foot interactive water feature that is 0.5-inch deep and features 17 water nozzles that spray varying heights and are accented by 56 color changing led lights that run on a synchronized program with the fountain."