Sphere Within Sphere (Sfera con sfera) describes a series of spherical bronze sculptures by Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro. In 1966, Pomodoro was commissioned to create a 3.5-meter sphere for Expo 67 in Montreal. The success of this sculpture propelled Pomodoro's works into the mainstream, allowing for commissions that would land his sculptures at the Headquarters of the United Nations and the Vatican Museums.
Over his career, Pomodoro has created 45 of these popular sculptures— aptly named Rotante, Sphera, or Sphera con sphera. The spheres range in size from as small as half a meter up to 4 meters in diameter. They are meant to represent the 'ideal city,' with contrasting imagery of organic and human shapes combined with technological and gear-like components. The spheres can be seen as a promising rebirth of a less troubled and destructive world. Pomodoro describes his desire for building these sculptures, stating, "breaking these perfect, magic forms in order to reveal their internal ferment, mysterious and alive, monstrous and yet pure; I [want to] create a discordant tension, a conflict, with the polished shine: a unity composed of incompleteness."[1]
Versions of the sculpture can be found around the world, below is a comprehensive list (** indicates true Sphera con sphera sculptures. Unmarked locations allude to Sphera or Rotante).[2]
United States
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive
American Republic Insurance Company Headquarters Building**
Christian Theological Seminary**
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden**
Princeton University Art Museum
Mount Sinai Hospital (Manhattan)
Museum of Modern Art
Italy
Mario Negri Institute for Pharmacological Research
Collezione Barilla di Arte Moderna
Byblos Art Hotel**
Direzione Regionale di Intesa Sanpaolo
Piazzale della Libertà
Park hotel ai Cappuccini
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Italy)
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna**
Hotel Palazzo Ripetta
Hilton Rome Airport**
Greater Europe
Eavan Boland Library**
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen**
Quai Jean-Charles Ray**
Royal Lazienki Museum**
Middle East
Jeddah Sculpture Museum
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
Japan
Miyazaki Prefectural Art Museum**
Fukuyama Museum of Art
Amada Co., Ltd.**