Art, City Guide | July 9, 2025

LACMA Is Getting a Giant Jeff Koons Floral Sculpture — and It’ll Bloom Year-Round

Art, City Guide | July 9, 2025
Laura Schreffler
By Laura Schreffler, Editor-in-Chief
Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Versailles, Paris, 2008, © Jeff Koons, photo by Laurent Lecat

A bold, blooming new landmark is coming to Los Angeles. LACMA just announced that it’s acquired Split-Rocker, the monumental living sculpture by Jeff Koons, thanks to a generous gift from longtime patrons Lynda and Stewart Resnick. The 37-foot-tall piece—half pony, half dinosaur, and completely covered in over 50,000 flowers—will be installed in late 2025 as the showstopping anchor of the museum’s new outdoor public art space, part of the reimagined 3.5-acre campus surrounding the David Geffen Galleries.

Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Rockefeller Center, NYC, 2014, © Jeff Koons, photo: Tom Powel Imaging

This isn’t just a pretty picture: Split-Rocker is an artist’s proof from Koons’ edition of one, and it’ll be adapted specifically for Southern California’s mild climate with drought-tolerant plants that bloom and shift with the seasons. (Think Versailles meets the Sunset Strip.) It’s a playful collision of childhood nostalgia and classical topiary tradition—equal parts whimsical and conceptual.

Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Versailles, Paris, 2008, © Jeff Koons, photo by Laurent Lecat

“Jeff is a master of bold playfulness layered with deeper meaning,” said LACMA CEO Michael Govan, noting how the sculpture will greet everyone from museumgoers to drivers cruising Wilshire Boulevard. The Resnicks, meanwhile, have long been central to LACMA’s transformation—from spearheading the Resnick Pavilion to helping shape the museum’s collection—and this latest gift continues that legacy.

Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Rockefeller Center, NYC, 2014, © Jeff Koons, photo: Tom Powel Imaging

Koons has shown Split-Rocker everywhere from the Château de Versailles to Rockefeller Center, but this marks its first permanent home—and its first time thriving year-round. Expect it to become one of LA’s most-photographed cultural landmarks before it even finishes blooming.

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