The Charging Bull also known as the Wall Street Bull bronze sculpture was installed without permission in front of the New York Stock Exchange in December 1989. This month the bull is 25 years old. Arturo Di Modica spent his own money US$360,000 of this bull.
The sculpture is both a popular tourist destination which draws thousands of people a day, as well as one of the most iconic images of New York and a Wall Street icon symbolizing Wall Street and the Financial District. This piece is not only the symbol of Wall Street but the symbol of financial optimism and prosperity as well.
The sculpture was the artist's idea, not the city's one. In an act of "guerrilla art", he trucked it to Lower Manhattan and on December 15, 1989, installed it beneath a 60-foot Christmas tree in the middle of Broad Street in front of the New York Stock Exchange as a Christmas gift to the people of New York. That day, crowds came to look at the bull, with hundreds stopping to admire and analyze the gift as Di Modica handed out copies of a flier about his artwork.
It was 10 nights before Christmas, and all the way down Wall Street the coast was clear. A truck turned the corner and lurched to a stop directly in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Arturo Di Modica and his small band of co-conspirators jumped out of the truck and got right to work — the night watchman had just completed his patrol of 11 Wall St., and, having cased the block for several nights. They lowered the bronze beast — all 3 ½ tons of it — right into the middle of Broad Street, and right under the exchange’s Christmas tree. The truck zoomed out of sight, but Di Modica stood at the corner, watching and waiting for morning.
“It was love right away,” Di Modica, now 73, told “They wanted to touch it, embrace it — it was beautiful. I stood there watching until about noon, when I took a break and went to lunch.”
Whenever the market is down, people stop him in the street and ask, “Why isn’t the bull working?” he reported. “I tell them he’s resting, he’s tired, but he’ll get back to it soon.” But every couple of week he pays a visit to his most famous creation, watching the tourists pose with it the way they first did 25 years before.
The BFM Assets Team.
Whenever the market is down, people stop him in the street and ask, “Why isn’t the bull working?” he reported. “I tell them he’s resting, he’s tired, but he’ll get back to it soon.” But every couple of week he pays a visit to his most famous creation, watching the tourists pose with it the way they first did 25 years before.
The BFM Assets Team.
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