Charging Bull at Bowling Green

Artist: Arturo De Modica

Date: Installed, Dec 15, 1989

In the wake of the stock market crash of 1987, Arturo Di Modica installed his 7 ton in the middle of the night in front of the NYSE as a 'Christmas Gift to the People of NY'. After leaving it at the foot of a Christmas tree in front of the Stock Exchange, the 7,000-pound sculpture was discovered and sculpture was promptly impounded into storage in Queens.

Two days later the artist convinced the Parks Department to have it reinstalled at the bottom of Broadway in Bowling Green. It was released after public outcry and the intervention of Henry Stern, then Parks Commissioner, and was temporarily relocated to its current location two blocks away from the Stock Exchange. Sometimes referred to as the Wall Street Bull, this sculpture represents aggression, financial optimism, and prosperity.

The sculptor Arturo Di Modica spent two years and $325,000 of his own money creating it.