Robert Therrien

Robert Therrien (November 17, 1947 – June 17, 2019) was an American artist known for his large-scale sculptures. His work reimagined and reinvented objects from everyday life, such as a set of table and chairs or stacks of plates, turning them into monumental immersive sculptures. Los Angeles–based, Therrien was described as being possessed by a sense of wonder over commonplace experiences

Early life Therrien was born in 1947 in Chicago, Illinois. He moved to the San Francisco Bay Area with his family when he was around five years old. After high school, he began his formal art education in Oakland at the California College of the Arts but then moved to Southern California. In 1970, he enrolled at Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara where he received a degree in photography while also studying painting at the affiliated Santa Barbara Art Institute.

In 1991, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía presented a major survey of his work. and chapels. The artist has said he has always been interested in "subjects with fables attached." The objects he chose to recreate not only had to be beautiful to his eyes but they had to have a "universal" shape that is recognizable to everyone.

Therrien died on June 17, 2019, at the age of 71. Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California, Robert Therrien, 2007 Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland, Robert Therrien: Works on Paper, 2008 Tate Modern, London, ARTIST ROOMS: Robert Therrien, 2009-2010 De Pont museum, Tilburg, Netherlands, Robert Therrien: Sculptures and drawings, 2011 The MAC (Metropolitan Arts Centre), Belfast, Northern Ireland, Robert Therrien: No title (table and four chairs), 2012 The Contemporary Austin, Texas, Robert Therrien, 2015 Denver Art Museum, Colorado, Robert Therrien: The Power of the Image, 2016 Parasol unit, London, Robert Therrien: Works 1975-1995, 2016 Tate Modern, London, ARTIST ROOMS: Robert Therrien, 2018 The Broad, Los Angeles, Robert Therrien: This is a Story, 2025-2026

Collections His artwork is included in museum collections worldwide, including: the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Broad, the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Tate Modern, London, the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium, the Kunstmuseum Basel in Switzerland, and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Art market Therrien was represented Leo Castelli in New York and Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf throughout the 1980s and 90s, during which time his work received increasing international recognition. He was represented by Gagosian Gallery at the time of his death.