American artist Dan Flavin (April 1, 1933 – November 29, 1996) was best known for creating minimalist sculptural objects and installations from commercially available fluorescent light fixtures. He created hundred of individual works and installations throughout his career, including editioned sculptures, permanent installations, and site-specific works. Below are chronological, though possibly incomplete, lists of light works by Flavin. These lists do not include Flavin's works on paper.
The majority of Flavin's extant light sculptures are listed under the "Works" section. Permanent installations are included on the main list and a separate list of permanent works. Flavin exhibited and published numerous works that were never permanently fabricated or sold in their full edition or at all. For each work listed below, edition sizes and the number of fabricated works are included.
Details about individual works - including medium, dimension, and edition size - are primarily sourced from the public collections which own many of Flavin's works, as well as the catalogue raisonné of Flavin's light sculptures published by the Dia Art Foundation in 2004.[1]
Works
These lists include every work Flavin conceptualized and executed during his lifetime, as well as several works conceptualized before his death and executed posthumously at his direction. Every work on this list was fabricated at least once for an exhibition, installation, or other presentation. The number of works fabricated refers to the number of times the work was fabricated permanently and sold, gifted, or transferred to a collector, museum, or other party; works with 0 fabrications were only fabricated during Flavin's life temporarily for one or more exhibitions. Edition sizes refer to the number of editions of a work intended to be fabricated; Flavin often did not complete the number of intended editions and sometimes produced additional versions beyond the numbered edition, or produced works in multiples without an official numbered edition.[2]
Abbreviations: NE = Non-editioned; CR = catalogue raisonné
1960s
List of works by Dan Flavin - 1960s
Title
Year
Medium
Dimensions
Edition size
No. of works fabricated
Public collection(s)
2004 CR no.
Notes
Ref
icon I (the heart) (to the light of Sean McGovern which blesses everyone)
1961-1962
Oil on cold gesso on Masonite and pine, and red fluorescent light
Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, New York;[58] and Villa Panza, Varese, Italy (permanent loan to Fondo Ambiente Italiano, collection of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York)[56]
Using 5-foot (152 cm) fixtures: 6 ft (183 cm) high, 5 ft (183 cm) wide across a corner; Using 4-foot (122 cm) fixtures: 5 ft (152 cm) high, 4 ft (122 cm) wide across a corner
Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, New York;[171] Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris;[172] Walker Art Center, Minneapolis;[173] and Whitney Museum, New York[174]
Left section: modular units, each with two 4-foot (122 cm) vertical fixtures and two 4-foot (122 cm horizontal fixtures); Right section: modular units, each with two 8-foot (244 cm) vertical fixtures and two 8-foot (244 cm horizontal fixtures)
untitled (to Ward Jackson, an old friend and colleague who, when, during the Fall, 1957, I finally returned to New York from Washington and joined him to work together in this museum, kindly communicated)
1971
Daylight, pink, yellow, green, and blue fluorescent light
System of two modular units; First unit: four 2 ft (61 cm) horizontal fixtures and two 8 ft (244 cm) vertical fixtures; Second unit: two 8 ft (244 cm) fixtures, leaning, and one 2 ft (61 cm) horizontal fixture
Nine modular units, each 8 × 8 ft (244 × 244 cm) square, in a corrido measuring 8 ft (244 cm) wide, 74 ft (22.6 m) long, 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) high at one end and 9 ft 9 in (297 cm) high at the other end
untitled (to Mies van der Rohe for his "Barcelona Pavilion") (and to Richard Nickel who observed, believed in, recorded, preserved somewhat and communicated as best he could the thought and work of Chicago's architects, losing his life accordingly affectionately within the disastrous commercial destruction of Louis Sullivan's great Stock Exchange Building)
Green, blue, yellow, red, and pink fluorescent light
8 ft (244 cm) high, in a wedge-shaped corridor; Back wall: 38 ft (11.6 m) long; Front angled wall: two sections, 23 ft 2 in (705 cm) long; Widest point between front and back walls: 13 ft 1 in (400 cm)
Three sections: First section, two parts, 24 ft (732 cm) long diagonal each; Second section, two parts, 10 ft (305 cm) high; Third section, eight parts, each 16 in (40 cm) diameter
NE
0
442
Commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation, along with CR nos. 443–445, for 155 Mercer Street, a building originally intended to be a dance rehearsal space but reconfigured to serve as the Masjid al-Farah mosque; Work was dismantled in 1987.
Green, warm white, and cool white fluorescent light
Three sections: First section, four parts, 12 ft (366 cm) long diagonal each; Second section, two parts, 6 ft (183 cm) long diagonal; Third section, eight parts, each 16 in (40 cm) diameter
NE
0
444
Commissioned by the Dia Art Foundation, along with CR nos. 442, 443, and 445, for 155 Mercer Street; dismantled in 1987.
untitled (for the staff of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden and their fellow craftsfolk who thought about and worked on this exposition of mine, with gratitude and esteem)
1989
Ultraviolet fluorescent light
4 ft (122 cm) long on each of three alternating diagonals
Red, yellow, green, ultraviolet, blue, and daylight fluorescent light
Four sections: First section 136 ft (41.45 m) wide; Second section 136 ft (41.45 m) wide; Third section, three parts, 32 ft (976 cm) wide each; Fourth section, six parts, 4 ft (122 cm) wide each
Six sections: Three sections 24 ft (732 cm) high; Two sections 16 ft (488 cm) high; One section 8 ft (244 cm) high
NE
0
692
Installation in the Calvin Klein flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York, originally for the 1996 holiday season;[396] temporarily re-installed by Calvin Klein in 2016.[397]
Commissioned by Italian priest Giulio Greco and designed just before Flavin's death, this work was executed posthumously with support from the Dia Art Foundation and Fondazione Prada[398]
Six buildings, two sections each: 8 ft (244 cm) long diagonal in corridors with walls measuring 8 ft (244 cm) diagonal and spaced 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m) apart
From 1975, Flavin installed permanent site-specific works in Europe and the United States. Below are Flavin's works intended to be permanent installations; each work is also included in the above list. De-installed permanent works are listed separately.
Extant installations
101 Spring Street, New York (former residence of artist Donald Judd, collection of the Judd Foundation)[209]
untitled (1970); Blue and red fluorescent light; 14 units, each 96 × 96 × 3 1/2 in (243.8 × 243.8 × 8.9 cm)[402]
untitled (in memory of Urs Graf) (1972, installed 1975); Yellow, pink, green, and blue fluorescent light; Eight sections, four sections: 8 ft (244 cm) high, four sections: 44 ft (13.4 m) high[248]
untitled (for Betty and Richard Kosahalek, a friendly reminder) (1979); Green, yellow, blue and pink fluorescent light; First section: approx. 40 × 60 ft (12.2 × 18.3 cm), second section: approx. 12 × 25 ft (366 × 760 cm)[306]
untitled (to Stephen) (1979–1980); Pink and green fluorescent lights; First section: 48 ft (14.65 m) wide, second section: 60 ft (18.3 m) long diagonal[306]
Dia Bridgehampton (formerly the Dan Flavin Art Institute), Bridgehampton, New York; 10 works on permanent display since 1983, all collection of Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, New York, except red out of a corner (to Annina) (collection of Dan Flavin Estate); Overall installation referred to by Dia as nine sculptures in fluorescent light (1963–1981);[404]
red out of a corner (to Annina) (1963); Red fluorescent light; 8 ft (244 cm) high;[33] Ed. 2/3[405]
untitled (to Katharina and Christoph) (1966–1971); Green fluorescent light; 8 ft (244 cm) square across a corner;[126][125] Ed. 1/5[405]
untitled (to Jim Schaeufele) 1 (1972); Cool white fluorescent light; 9 ft (274 cm) high;[243][244] Ed. 1/3[405]
untitled (to Jim Schaeufele) 2 (1972); Daylight fluorescent light; 16 ft (488 cm) high;[246][245] Ed. 1/3[405]
untitled (to Jim Schaeufele) 3 (1972); Warm white fluorescent light; 10 ft (305 cm) high;[246][247] Ed. 1/3[405]
untitled (to Jan and Ron Greenberg) (1972–73); Yellow and green fluorescent light; 8 ft (244 cm) high, in a corridor measuring 8 ft (244 cm) high and 8 ft (244 cm) wide, length variable;[250][251] Ed. 2/3[405]
untitled (1976); Pink, green, and blue fluorescent light; 8 ft (244 cm) high, leaning;[282][283] Ed. 2/3[405]
untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3 (1977); Pink, yellow, blue, and green fluorescent light; 8 ft (244 cm) square across a corner;[295][294] Ed. 1/3[405]
untitled (to Robert, Joe and Michael) (1975–81); Pink and yellow fluorescent light; 8 ft (244 cm) wide, in a corridor measuring 8 ft (244 cm) high and 8 ft (244 cm) wide, length variable;[279][277] Ed. 2/3[405]
untitled (1996); Blue and green fluorescent light; Four sections, sections one–three: 24 ft (732 cm) high each, 4 ft (12 cm) wide each, fourth section: 52 ft (15.85 m) wide[395]
untitled (1996); Pink, blue, and green fluorescent lights; Three sections, first section: 36 ft (11 m) wide, sections two–three: 8 ft (244 cm) high[395]
untitled (1996); Green, ultraviolet, blue, pink, and yellow fluorescent light; Nave: two sections, 92 ft (28 m) wide each, transept: two sections, 32 ft (975 cm) wide each, apse: two sections, 32 ft (975 cm) high each
untitled (1996); Green fluorescent light; Two sections, 184 ft (56 m) wide each[400]
untitled (1996); Daylight fluorescent light; Two sections, 16 ft (488 cm) long diagonal each[400]
untitled (1996); Pink, yellow, green, blue, and ultraviolet fluorescent light; Two sections, 8 ft (244 cm) high each, approx. 128 ft (39 m) wide each[400]
untitled (Marfa project) (1996); Pink, green, yellow, and blue fluorescent lights; Six buildings, two sections each: 8 ft (244 cm) long diagonal in corridors with walls measuring 8 ft (244 cm) long diagonal and spaced 5 ft 8 in (1.7 m) apart[400]
untitled (1976–1977); Pink, daylight, and yellow fluorescent light; Three sections, approx. 1000 ft (300 m) long each[288]
Brooklyn Commons (formerly the MetroTech Center), Brooklyn, New York; de-installed 2018
untitled (to Tracy Harris) (1992); Red, yellow, green, ultraviolet, blue, and daylight fluorescent lights; Four sections, first section: 136 ft (41.45 m) wide, second section: 136 ft (41.45 m) wide, third section: three parts, 32 ft (976 cm) wide each, fourth section: six parts, 4 ft (122 cm) wide each[378]