Brancusi’s ‘Sculpture for the Blind’

Abstract

One of the lesser-known works by Brancusi, Sculpture for the Blind is actually a key work, paradigmatic of the artist’s entire output. Perfectly oval in shape, it is the endpoint of Brancusi’s trajectory towards abstraction, which leads from the head to the egg as a symbol of origin. But, destined for the “blind”, on the one hand it displaces fruition from sight to touch, highlighting the importance of this modality also for other works; on the other hand it indicates the importance of “blinding” for understanding art; finally it denounces in its own way the blindness of so many self-styled art users. The essay reconstructs the history of the sculpture, its interpretations and its further implications.