Pool Lounger, from the 'Locus Solus' series

About this Brooklyn Icon

The Brooklyn Museum is commemorating its 200th anniversary by spotlighting 200 standout objects in its encyclopedic collection.

The bold colors and flowing, rounded lines of Pool Lounger, by Gae Aulenti, make this piece an exceptional example of the late-1960s movement known as Radical Design, which originated in Italy. Although the lounger is made of modernist materials like bent-steel tubing and rubber, its bright colors of yellow and green create a lively, expressive—even playful—form that connects it to the Pop art movement of the 1960s.

In addition to being a prolific designer, Aulenti was an architect, magazine editor, and professor—a respected trailblazer in European architecture and design circles at a time when few women were credited for their work. For Pool Lounger, Aulenti collaborated on the textile pattern with renowned Italian female designer Graziella Guidotti. In a culture then dominated by men, this piece stands apart in Radical Design as one designed exclusively by women. The Brooklyn Museum has a legacy of collecting and displaying cutting-edge Italian design, starting with the 1950–51 exhibition Italy at Work: Her Renaissance in Design Today, a showcase of postwar Italian craft. More than 75 years later, the Museum continues to introduce visitors to important and intriguing Italian design ideas by displaying the Freedman collection.