The Mediterranean

Writer A. Zhid considered this work (its second name is “Thought”) the personification of new art, and for the author himself it became an artistic manifesto by which he affirmed the ideological and aesthetic principles of sculpture. In the plastic sculpture that is faultless in composition, Maillol expressed his vision of the world: poetry and musicality, harmony and perfection. It is no coincidence that different versions are found in other works, in particular, in the monument to the fallen in Eln. Having made the first sketch of terracotta, Maillol completed his work in stone after four years. German art lover Count Kessler bought the sculpture, which was tremendous successful. Then he, becoming an admirer and propagandist of Maillol’s talent, played a beneficial role in his fate.