Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Big Sweep, 2006. Stainless steel, aluminum, fiber-reinforced plastic; painted with polyurethane enamel. Denver Art Museum:  Purchased in honor of Tom and Noël Congdon with funds from 1998 Collectors’ Choice, with support from the estate of Richard H. Bosworth, Cyprus Amax Minerals Company, Charles and Diane Gallagher, Jerry Gart Family Foundation, Frederic C. and Jane Hamilton, Hines, Jan and Frederick R. Mayer, Paul and Lilly Merage, Larry and Carol Mizel, Ken and Judy Robins, Titanium Metals Corporation, Carl and Lisa Williams, Ginny Williams, and an anonymous donor. Additional funding was provided by Mark and Polly Addison, Joan Anderman, Bruce and Marcy Benson, Nancy Lake Benson, Jim and Janice Campbell, Howard and Beulah Cherne, Steven and Robin Chotin, Tom and Noël Congdon, Peter and Philae Dominick, Suzanne Farver, Leonard and Kay Gemmill, Dorothy Strear Goodstein, Robert and Diane Greenlee, Heidi Hamilton, Mark and Diana Hayden, Harley and Lorraine Higbie, A. Barry and Arlene Hirschfeld, Grafton and Sue Jhung, Glenn Jones and Diane Eddolls, Mariner and Megan Kemper, Bill and Alma Kurtz, Ed and Margaret Anne Leede, Susan and John W. Madden III, Caroline Morgan, Trygve and Vicki Myhren, NBT Foundation, Denny and Judy O’Brien, Andrea Singer Pollack, and an anonymous donor. © 2006 Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen.

Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen are a husband-and-wife team whose monumental sculptures celebrate the significance and beauty of everyday things—often making subjects larger than life. This 40-foot-tall sculpture was inspired by the vast prairies and mountains of Colorado, the bright light and scouring winds. The artists devised a graceful broom and dustpan that seem to dance in the dazzling Western sun. The sculpture is located along 13th Ave at the North end of the Frederic C. Hamilton Building.