This piece, on display in the Open-Air Sculpture Museum on the Paseo de la Castellana, is the first concrete sculpture by the famous sculptor from San Sebastian, Eduardo Chillida Juantegui (1942-2002).
The sculpture is on the ground floor of the Museum, under the bridge that links Calle Juan Bravo and Calle Eduardo Dato. It is supported thanks to four protected steel tensors and anchored to several circular rings under the capitals of the columns, which enables the work to lift its nine tonnes around fifty centimetres from the floor. The volume of white concrete enables the wooden casing to be seen as part of its brutalist expression. Around a central vacuum, there are two arms extended sideways like wings, along with another three pieces that model the space, whereby the lower one forms an anvil, a tool from Chillida’s poetic imaginary and which is a recurrent theme in his work.
The sculpture, which is really called Meeting Place III, is known as the Beached Mermaid, a name which it acquired in 1973, when it was removed from its current location on the pretext of technical reasons, although in reality there were ideological reasons. After this, the sculpture was exhibited in the Maeght Foundation in Paris and the Miró Foundation in Barcelona, becoming a symbol of the fight for freedom. Finally, it returned to Madrid on 2 September 1978.
Docking stations:
- Castellana 142 (Paseo de la Castellana, 142)
- Glorieta Rubén Darío, 2
- Paseo de la Castellana - Glorieta de Emilio Castelar (Paseo de la Castellana, 43)
The city’s new official sightseeing and tourist travel pass.
An observation deck at 92 metres.
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