Revered Artist With Works Known Worldwide Dies at 99: RIP to Arnaldo Pomodoro

Arnaldo Pomodoro, a renowned Italian contemporary artist known for his bronze spheres in public spaces like the Vatican, has died.

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Pomodoro passed away peacefully at his home in Milan on June 23, just one day shy of his 99th birthday, according to a statement from Carlotta Montebello, Director General of the Arnaldo Pomodoro Foundation, via the Associated Press.

Pomodoro’s large bronze spheres are easily recognizable with their shiny, smooth exteriors and clawed-out interiors. According to the artist, they symbolize the contrast between outward perfection and inner complexity.

The Vatican’s iconic sphere, located at the heart of the Pigna Courtyard in the Vatican Museums, boasts an intricate internal mechanism that gracefully rotates in response to the wind. “In my work, I see the cracks, the eroded parts, the destructive potential that emerges from our time of disillusionment,” Pomodoro said of the piece, via the AP.

revered-artist-with-works-known-worldwide-dies-at-99-rip-to-arnaldo-pomodoro — The galleries of the Vatican Museums showcase both modern works, such as Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Sphere with Sphere, and classical antiquities. (Photo by Jane Wooldridge/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)

In 1996, Italy gifted the United Nations in New York Pomodoro’s 3.3-meter “Sphere Within Sphere” sculpture. The artwork symbolizes the coming of a new millennium and represents hope for a less troubled and destructive world.

Arnaldo Pomodoro Created 45 of his Iconic Spheres

Spheres from Pomodoro’s monumental sculpture project can be found in museums worldwide, as well as outside the Italian foreign ministry. The ministry houses the original piece he created in 1966 for the Montreal Expo, which marked the beginning of his iconic series.

evered-artist-with-works-known-worldwide-dies-at-99-rip-to-arnaldo-pomodoro-dublin. — Ireland, Dublin, Trinity College, Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Sphere within a Sphere sculpture outside the Berkeley Library. (Photo by: Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Pomodoro was born in Montefeltro, Italy, on June 23, 1926. He created spheres, designed theatrical sets, land projects, and machines. He held multiple retrospectives and taught at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, and Mills College.