Orfeus group
The Orfeus Group , also known as the Orfeus Fountain , is a sculpture by the Swedish sculptor Carl Milles that stands in front of the concert hall in Stockholm . Orpheus was the most famous singer in Greek mythology , he represents the art of music .
history
The Orfeus Group, like many of Milles' works, has a long and troubled history, and the final result differs significantly from the one he submitted to a competition in 1925. A large sculpture was to adorn the new Stockholm Concert Hall ( Konserthuset ), which was just built according to the designs of the architect Ivar Tengbom . Milles' competition proposal, called “Musiken” (the music), was chosen by the jury, but the Stockholm City Fathers could not make up their minds and it would take nine years for a decision to be made.
The first sketch for the Orfeus group showed a lonely, slender youth of colossal size, the base on which he stood resembled, according to angry tongues, a bunch of bananas or an artichoke. Carl Milles' work of art was saved to Stockholm with a hair-care vote. The positive decision of the city finally came in 1935 and had only one vote majority, which had also been accidentally cast for Milles. Only now did Milles begin to work seriously on his sculpture and the end result was completely different from what the city fathers had given their votes, which was also typical of Milles.
Milles changed the entire composition by making eight male and female figures hover around Orfeus. He gave the facial features of Beethoven to the male figure, who desperately raises his hands to the sky . That was no coincidence, for Milles Beethoven was the symbol of the great, suffering artistic genius that he himself wanted to be. When the nine figures of the Orfeus Fountain were interpreted as a sculptural counterpart to Beethoven's 9th Symphony , Milles was extremely delighted.
The architect of the concert hall, Ivar Tengbom, was enthusiastic about Milles' proposal from the start. Letters to Tengbom show how carefully Milles worked to adapt the Orfeus group architecturally to the concert hall behind. Tengbom and Milles also had various joint projects later.
photos
Some detail pictures of the group:
Literature and source
- Carl Milles - en biografi . Wikens förlags AB, 1991, ISBN 91-7119-010-4
Coordinates: 59 ° 20 ′ 6 ″ N , 18 ° 3 ′ 44 ″ E