Sculptures of Monaco: another walk at the Place of Casino

HelloMonaco continues its series about beautiful sculptures of Monaco and today we will continue our walk around Monte-Carlo Casino as true artistic marvels are hidden in its neighborhood.

The next artistic instalment can be found on the roof of the Monaco Convention Center, by the Fairmont Hotel: the ‘Hexa Grace’ by Victor Vasarely, with its beautifully blue, green and red coloured tiles represents the sky, the sea and the land in an elegant and unique way. This piece was created in 1979 by the Vasarely Foundation in Aix-en-Provence, a museum dedicated to the works of the Hungarian-French artist Victor Vasarely seen as the founder of the op art movement, a style of visual art that uses optical illusions that plays with the viewer’s eye.

Close-by is ‘La Ballerina’ sculpture created in 1995 by Italian sculptor Marco Lodola, who in the 80’s founded the ‘new futurism’ movement which began his successful career as an artist, as he went on to become internationally famous with exhibitions all over the world. He is also known for his sculptures that incorporate light animation, like with this Monaco-based sculpture ‘La Ballerina’; if you look closely you can see the wires that run through the piece that light up at night. The sculpture is probably a nod to the Monaco Ballet building found in the street above.

Manolo Valdés is a Spanish artist known for his unique method of drawing from art history to create his painting and sculptures; he introduced to Spain a form of expression that combined political and social obligations with humour and irony. An example of his work can be found in Monaco on the Pointe Focinane, a sculpture created in 2004 called ‘Reina Mariana’ that re-contextualises Diego Velázquez’s Queen Mariana (1652), a highly recognizable portrait of the second wife of Felipe IV, a queen who notoriously lived an unhappy life in the Spanish court. The artist often inspires himself with paintings of great masters and translates them into his own concrete vision, creating a bold new perspective on the history of western art.

Probably the most renowned sculpture in Monaco is Columbian artist Fernando Botero’s ‘Adam and Eve’ 12 ft. bronze piece created in 1981. Many sculptures are easy to miss, but this grand piece is definitely not one of them! It consists of a naked portly couple representing an original and alternative view of Adam and Eve – the artist has actually done several different artistic representations of Adam & Eve throughout his career. Botero has his own signature figurative style, which has been named ‘Boterismo’, and is known for his luscious curvaceous figures in sculpture, providing a totally different aesthetic standard – he has declared himself the “most Columbian of Columbian artists”. His ‘large and in charge’ sculptures are scattered in public spots around the globe for all to admire.

The final sculpture in this Casino series can be found just outside of the Hotel Hermitage: it is an original sculpture by Céline Chourlet named ‘Marcel à Monaco’. The artist specialises in creating sculptures of ‘Marcel the cat’, abstract and colourful models that were first introduced in 2014 – this particular edition was created specifically for this location. Chourlet always had a passion for drawing and has been organising expositions since she was 16, the vibrant colours of the South, in Provence, inspired her colourful pieces.

If you want to discover more about sculptures in Monaco, read our articles about sculptural artistic creations, which are hidden in the Fontvieille Park, or take a walk along the Larvotto with us or in the Condamine district.