Italian Sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro dies Aged 98

The Maestro leaves behind an immense legacy —not only for the power of his work, recognized internationally, but also for the coherence and depth of his thought, always capable of looking to the future with tireless creative energy.

"I have never believed in foundations that celebrate a single artist as unique. The artist is part of a cultural tissue; his active contribution can never be lost and that is why I conceived my foundation as an active and living place of cultural elaboration, as well as a center of documentation of my work, capable of making original proposals and not just passive preservation. But the best must be yet to come: this has only been a beginning and in my intentions the project –aimed at young people and the future – must take root, make continuity an inescapable element…"

In a reaction on X, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni says: "Pomodoro, who died at his home in Milan on Sunday, had "sculpted Italy's soul"." 

The Foundation, born from this vision and strong in the direction traced by Arnaldo Pomodoro over the course of thirty years, will continue to operate according to the will of the founder, guaranteeing the preservation and enhancement of his work, committing itself to disseminating its material and immaterial heritage through the creation of exhibitions, events and initiatives in an inventive, almost experimental space of study and confrontation on the themes of art and sculpture, which aims at an involvement, deep and global, with people and society.

Pomodoro has exhibited in some of the world’s most prestigious art spaces-Milan (Rotonda della Besana, 1974), Paris (Musée d’Art Moderne, 1976), Florence (Forte Belvedere, 1984), Ferrara (Palazzo dei Diamanti, 1987), Hakone in Japan (1994), New York (Marlborough Gallery, 1996) and many others. His works are distributed in public spaces in cities such as Lampedusa, Sorrento, Rimini, Pesaro, Genoa, Rome, Pavia, Terni, Turin, Tivoli, Belluno, San Giovanni Rotondo (in Renzo Piano’s Basilica di Padre Pio complex), as well as Copenhagen, Brisbane, Dublin, Los Angeles, and on the UN campus. Pomodoro has also taught in art departments of American universities - Stanford, Berkeley, Mills College - contributing to the training of new generations of artists. Recognized with numerous awards, Pomodoro was awarded the Imperial Præmium for sculpture by the Japan Art Association in 1990, the same year Federico Fellini received the award for film and theater.