Considered one of his generation's most pre-eminent sculptors, the San Francisco native originally studied painting at Yale University but turned to sculpting in the 1960s, inspired by trips to Europe.

He died from pneumonia at his home in Long Island, New York, his lawyer, John Silberman said on Tuesday.

Known by his colleagues as the "poet of iron", Serra became world-renowned for his large-scale steel structures such as monumental arcs, spirals and ellipses.

He was closely identified with the minimalist movement of the 1970s.

Serra's work started to gain attention in 1981 when he installed a 37-metre-long and 7m high curving wall of raw steel that splits the Federal Plaza in New York City.

The sculpture, called Tilted Arc, generated swift backlash and a fierce demand that it should be removed.

The sculpture was later dismantled but Serra's popularity in the New York art scene had been cemented.

In 2005, eight major works by Serra measuring were installed at the Guggenheim Museum in Spain. Carmen Jimenez, the exhibition organiser, said Serra was "beyond doubt the most important living sculptor".

Before his turn to sculpting, Serra worked in steel foundries to help finance his education at the Berkeley and Santa Barbara campuses of the University of California.

He then went on to Yale, where he graduated in 1964.

Australian Associated Press