Material Resin, Murano Glass and Steel
Dimensions 245 × 118 × 67 cm
Place of Creation Resin, Murano Glass and Steel
Status Vetted

About the Work

The sculptures of Manolo Valdés translate the language of painting into three-dimensional form. Best known for his monumental heads inspired by the figures of Spanish court portraiture, Valdés strips historical imagery down to its essential shapes and surfaces. What remains is not a portrait in the traditional sense, but an archetype—quiet, monumental, and strangely timeless.


In a number of his sculptures, delicate butterflies settle across the figure’s head like a living crown. These fragile forms introduce a striking counterpoint to the weight of bronze: permanence meets transformation. The butterflies appear almost weightless, as if they had just landed, bringing movement and lightness to the otherwise solid structure.


The motif also carries a poetic resonance. Butterflies suggest metamorphosis, ephemerality, and the passage of time—ideas that contrast with the enduring material of sculpture. In Valdés’s work, this tension between heaviness and flight becomes a central visual metaphor. The rigid mass of the head anchors the sculpture in history, while the butterflies evoke imagination, change, and the fleeting nature of beauty.


Seen together, these elements transform the sculptures into something both monumental and lyrical: objects that seem rooted in centuries of art history, yet animated by a quiet sense of movement and life.

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Provenance

studio of the artist

View artwork at TEFAF Maastricht 2026

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