Your visit to the Bordeaux Museum of Fine Arts collections ends here with this sculpture by François Morellet, an iconic figure of Geometric Abstraction.
This stainless steel sphere-weave is made up of elements assembled into an orthogonal shape. The artist began his research with rectilinear weaves in 1953. Within the framework of his experimentations for G.R.A.V., the Visual Art Research Group, which he founded in 1960, Morellet also became interested in light phenomenon as the morphological indicator of a place.
In 1962, he made some different sized sphere-weaves measuring up to three metres in diameter. The artist played with the principal of visual repetition according to a mathematical organisation around a geometric shape: the square. The sphere-weave is an assemblage of rigorously straight lines which, through their calculated structure, end up forming a curve.
To experience this optical disruption, try walking underneath the sphere. By creating these volumes from an assembly of simple rods, Morellet sees himself as a “game leader” for a participating audience, making art interactive and fun.
This work which closes the visit, is also an invitation to visit the CAPC, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Bordeaux, home to some of Morellet’s work.