LOS ANGELES — Coosje van Bruggen, a critic, art historian and sculptor who collaborated with her artist-husband Claes Oldenburg on his giant sculptures of mundane objects, has died. She was 66.

Van Bruggen died Saturday in her Los Angeles home after fighting breast cancer. She gained a reputation as an inquisitive critic with her scholarly books and essays.

She was best known through her work with the Swedish-born, American pop artist Oldenburg.

Their collaborations included a 38-foot-tall replica of an upended flashlight on the campus of the University of Las Vegas and a mammoth bicycle that appears to be half-buried at Parc de la Villette in Paris.

She was credited with using a matter-of-fact-approach to persuade officials to embrace the sometimes controversial public artworks she and her husband sought to install.