Alexander Calder
Earrings for Peggy Guggenheim
ca. 1938
On view
Alexander Calder
1966
In 1931 Alexander Calder created his first kinetic objects, or mobiles, moved by electric motors. He soon realized that his sculptures could move by themselves. Responding to air currents, Yellow Moon shifts spontaneously. As Calder once said, “a mobile is a piece of poetry that dances with the joy of life and surprise.” Crafted entirely by the artist’s hand, Yellow Moon evokes outer space, with stars and orbiting planets: the yellow moon counterbalances the red circle, possibly symbolizing the heat-emanating sun. This may be inspired by a moving vision of a bright sunrise and a vanishing full moon, on opposite horizons, that Calder witnessed as a merchant marine off Guatemala in 1922.
Not on View
Artist | Alexander Calder |
Original Title | Croissant jaune |
Date | 1966 |
Medium | Painted sheet metal, metal rods and steel wire |
Dimensions | 162.6 x 243.8 x 177.8 cm |
Credit line | Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York, Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof Collection, bequest of Hannelore B. Schulhof, 2012 |
Accession | 2012.33 |
Collection | Schulhof Collection |
Type | Sculpture |
Copy caption
Not on View
Alexander Calder
ca. 1938
On view
Alexander Calder
1941
On view
Alexander Calder
ca. 1934
Not on View
Alexander Calder
1971
On view