With “Omaggio ad Arcimboldo“, created between 1976 and 1979, Miguel Berrocal presents one of his celebrated dismantlable multiple sculptures, conceived as complex and interactive structures. The work, cast in patinated bronze and composed of 30 assemblable elements, appears as a head that recalls, already from the title, the imagery of Giuseppe Arcimboldo. However, while the sixteenth-century painter constructed faces through illusionistic juxtapositions, Berrocal translates this principle into three-dimensional and mechanical form.
The Spanish sculptor, trained between Madrid, Rome, and Paris, in fact developed a language based on modular decomposition. Therefore, his works are not simple busts, but articulated systems that invite internal analysis. Moreover, each element contributes to the definition of the face while maintaining formal autonomy. Consequently, the sculpture combines engineering rigor and sculptural reflection.
In the 1970s, a period of full maturity for Berrocal, the artist perfected production in numbered editions, as in the case of the example 471/1000. In this context, seriality does not limit the uniqueness of the design; on the contrary, it disseminates an idea of sculpture as a dynamic and reconfigurable object.
Thus, “Omaggio ad Arcimboldo” synthesizes the aesthetics and style that Miguel Berrocal always sought through his works: dialogue with art history, technical experimentation, and the conception of sculpture as a complex and revealable organism.
Hammer price: € 3.840,00
Auction 91 – February 19th 2026 – 20th century design and decorative arts
All furnishings by Miguel Berrocal presented at auction
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