U of Utah Unveils Iconic Sculpture It Bought for $4.5M

The University of Utah officially unveiled its acquisition of Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE sculpture Saturday at a ceremony at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts, where it is installed on the south lawn.

The university purchased the sculpture for $4.5 million from Christie’s in 2024. Donors contributed $2.5 million and the remainder came from state funds.

“It is the role of this institution to create positive change,” said U of Utah president Taylor Randall at the ceremony, according to The Salt Lake Tribune. “So we have a statue that screams love in the midst of often chaos, competition and argument.”

In an op-ed in The Deseret News Saturday, Randall and former U of U trustee Steven Price explained that Indiana initially created the stacked letters forming “Love” for a holiday card commissioned by New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1964. The Pop artist cast the first steel version in 1970 and it was placed at the southwestern entrance to Central Park.

Indiana went on to create 86 versions of the sculpture, which have appeared all over the world.

As part of the University of Utah, the work “anchors the UMFA’s growing collection of outdoor works,” Randall and Price wrote. “It will serve as a bridge to the wider community and welcome visitors to campus for years to come. It also makes a statement about who we are and what we believe.”