In 2000 Indiana Governor Frank O'Bannon commissioned Robert Indiana to create a monumental work for the entry of the new Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis. The resulting 48-foot high The Indiana Obelisk was fabricated at Milgo/Bufkin in Brooklyn, New York, and is the artist's largest work. It was unveiled on April 9, 2008, which Governor O'Bannon declared "Robert Indiana Day." Two other works by Indiana, the patining Terre Haute (1960) and the sculpture 2000 (2000), are in the museum's collection.
The Indiana Obelisk is the second monumental sculpture by Indiana in Indianapolis; his first large-scale LOVE, a 144 x 144 x 72 Cor-Ten work fabricated in 1970, is in the collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.