Spiral Theme

Mediums: cellulose acetate, perspex. .
Location: Tate Gallery, London (the UK).

This composition, first shown in London during the war, delighted all visitors, newspaper journalists and critics. Performed in the form of transparent planes, the sculpture expresses birth and gradual growth. Influential art critic Herbert Reed spoke of the work as “the highest point ever achieved by the aesthetic intuition of a man”. Naum Gabo himself loved this sculpture but later admitted that it was a mystery to him why everyone admired it so much. The Spiral Theme is continuously on display at Tate St. Ives; one copy is at the New York Museum of Modern Art.