Richard Serra: Minimalist Sculptor and Master of Monumental Steel

Richard Serra, born in 1939 in San Francisco and based in New York, is a leading figure in minimalist sculpture. In 1965, a study grant took him to Paris, where he became interested in Brancusi's work. Since the mid-1960s, he has regularly participated in group exhibitions, especially those focused on American sculpture. He is best known for his monumental sculptures, inseparable from the spaces they inhabit, using corroded steel plates—his preferred material—balanced on edges, against walls, or leaning against each other. His works have sparked such curiosity that he has received numerous public commissions in Los Angeles, Saint Louis, Helsinki, Amsterdam, and Paris. For Paris, he created Clara-Clara for the Tuileries Garden, installed from 1985 to 1990 in Parc de Choisy, then dismantled. In 2008, for the Monumenta program, he installed five asymmetrical steles under the Grand Palais glass roof, each 17 meters high and 4 meters wide, offering visitors a unique spatial perception.