The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) has secured a major addition to its public art program with the acquisition of Jeff Koons’ Split-Rocker (2000), a towering floral hybrid of dinosaur and rocking horse, standing 37 feet tall and pulsating with over 50,000 living plants. The sculpture, an artist’s proof adapted for Southern California’s climate with drought-resistant flora, will anchor the museum’s newly designed outdoor spaces ahead of the 2026 unveiling of the David Geffen Galleries.
Generously funded by LACMA life trustee Lynda Resnick and Stewart Resnick through their foundation, Split-Rocker will inhabit the ground-level expanse south of Wilshire Boulevard, transforming the museum’s approach into a living, breathing spectacle. Unlike its counterparts in harsher climates, LACMA’s iteration will thrive year-round, its blossoms shifting with the seasons—a nod to 18th-century topiary traditions, reimagined through Koons’ irreverent, Pop-inflected lens.
Michael Govan, LACMA’s CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director, remarked: “Koons collapses the boundaries between play and profundity, between the ephemeral and the eternal. This work doesn’t just occupy space—it responds to it, to us, to the sun and soil of Los Angeles. The Resnicks’ vision has always been to give art back to the city, and Split-Rocker does exactly that: a gift that grows.”
Originally conceived in 2000, Split-Rocker has graced the Palais des Papes in Avignon, Versailles, Fondation Beyeler, and Rockefeller Center, its form—a Cubist collision of childhood icons—serving as both spectacle and sly commentary on artifice and nature. Koons, ever the alchemist of the mundane, here turns living plants into pigment, their blooms a transient skin over steel and irrigation veins.
The Resnicks’ legacy at LACMA is indelible: from the Resnick Pavilion’s 2010 debut to their stewardship of the museum’s collection. Lynda’s 25-year board tenure, including 21 years chairing Acquisitions, underscores their commitment to civic art. Split-Rocker now joins LACMA’s Koons holdings—Rabbit, Balloon Dog, and Cracked Egg among them—bridging the museum’s past and its unfolding future.
Split-Rocker will be installed late 2025.
The largest art museum in the West, LACMA houses 150,000 works spanning six millennia, reframing art history through Los Angeles’ multicultural lens. Its forthcoming Geffen Galleries, set within 3.5 acres of reimagined public space, signal a new chapter in the museum’s dialogue with the city. Location: 5905 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Jeff Koons, Split-Rocker (2000) installed at Versailles, Paris, 2008, © Jeff Koons, photo by Laurent Lecat