Giant Glowing Paintbrush

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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Paint Torch is a Claes Oldenburg sculpture of a giant paintbrush, 50 ft 11 in high, tilted at 60 degrees on the point of its handle at Lenfest Plaza, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, North Broad Street, Philadelphia. It was installed in August 2011.

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Giant Glowing Paintbrush

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Site-level location · 39.9552° N, 75.1637° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A giant paintbrush balances on the tip of its handle on North Broad Street, with a glob of paint on the ground beside it. Paint Torch, by Claes Oldenburg, was installed on Saturday 20 August 2011 at Lenfest Plaza, between the two Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts buildings, and tilts at 60 degrees.

The Academy says it commissioned the work to celebrate its founding in 1805 as America’s first school of fine arts and museum. It describes the form as doubling as a torch and a symbol of liberty, and Laura Griffith of the Association for Public Art told WHYY in 2022 that the brush resembles the torch of the Statue of Liberty, which was shown at Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exposition. Oldenburg told Art in America that the site between museum and school suggested a form that is both sculptural and painterly.

PAFA gives the figures: 50 feet 11 inches from the ground, 93 feet 9/16 inch in total length, 24 feet of bristles, and a glob about six feet across. The materials are steel, fibreglass, urethane and LED lighting, and the tip and glob are lit from within at night. PAFA gives the weight as 12,000 pounds; Art in America reported 11,000. Bill Kreysler fabricated the piece in California and Jen Lewin worked with Oldenburg on the lighting, and two trucks carried it about 2,900 miles. Art in America reported that the city granted $1.5 million for the work, and WHYY said it was Oldenburg’s first large-scale piece to use light.

It was the last of four Oldenburg works in Philadelphia, after Clothespin (1976), Split Button (1981) and Three-Way Plug (2010). The brush extends nearly 12 feet over the Broad Street sidewalk, PAFA says.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

The brush leans out over the Broad Street sidewalk and the paint glob stands on the plaza floor, with the brush tip and glob lit from within at night, according to PAFA. The museum in the buildings either side invites visits Thursday to Sunday.

ACCESS

On Lenfest Plaza between PAFA’s two buildings on North Broad Street, Center City Philadelphia. The brush extends about 12 feet over the Broad Street sidewalk, so it can be seen from the street as well as the plaza.

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