LifeConstantin Brancusi (February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957]), was a Romanian sculptor, born in Hobiţa, Gorj, near Târgu Jiu, where he placed his sculptural ensemble with The Table of Silence, The Gate of the Kiss and The Endless Column.

Brancusi studied art at the School of arts and crafts in Craiova from 1894 to 1898 and at the National school of fine arts in Bucharest from 1898 to 1901. Wishing to further his education in Paris, he arrived there in 1904 and enrolled in the École des Beaux-Arts in 1905.

As an art student he was influenced by Auguste Rodin, but his style moved beyond naturalist representation to stylized elegant forms. Brancusi was one of the first sculptors to experiment with abstract art (although never, in his own view, moving into pure abstraction). His sculptures became progressively smoother and less figurative, until only the barest outline of the original subject was left, venturing even further away from figurative sculpture than his countryman and contemporary Dimitrie Paciurea.

The Table of Silence

The Gate of Kiss

The Endless Column

Adam & Eva

King of Kings

The Prayer

Beginning of the World

Fish

Mlle Pogany

Pogany I

Pogany II

Reclining Head

LifeConstantin Brancusi lived and worked from 1925 to 1957 in his workshop, located in the impasse Ronsin, in the 15ème arrondissement of Paris. The original workshop has disappeared and has been rebuilt near the Centre Georges Pompidou.

Located in the Montparnasse Cemetery are statues carved by Brancusi for a few fellow artists who committed suicide, the best-known of which is his work, The Kiss.

Brancusi died on March 16, 1957 and was buried in the Montparnasse Cemetery, Paris, France.

Brancusi Museum - Paris

The Kiss I

Male Torso

Muse

Sleeping Muse I

Sleeping Muse II

Sleeping Muse III

Sleeping Muse IV

Socrates

Study related to “The First Step”

LegacyHis works are housed in the New York Museum of Modern Art and in the National Museum of Art of Romania (in Bucharest), as well as in other major museums around the world. The Philadelphia Museum of Art currently has the largest collection of Brancusi sculptures in the US.

Brancusi's onetime studio in Paris is open to the public. It is very close to the Pompidou Centre, in the rue Rambuteau. He donated part of his collection to the French state on condition that his workshop be rebuilt as it was on the day he died.

In 2004, a sculpture by Brancusi named Danaide sold for $18.1 million, the highest that a sculpture piece had ever sold for at auction. In May 2005, a piece from the Bird in Space series broke that record, selling for $27.5 million in a Christie's auction.

Danaide

Bird in Space

The Bird

The Blonde Negress

The Cock

Golden Bird

Maiastra

The Newborn

The Kiss II, III

Quotations

“The people who call my work 'abstract' are imbeciles; what they call 'abstract' is in fact the purest realism, the reality of which is not represented by external form but by the idea behind it, the essence of the work.”

“Create like a god, command like a king, work like a slave.”

- Constantin Brancusi

Women’s head

The Prayer

Wisdom of the Earth

Suffering

Bust of a boy

Portret - Darascu

Portret – General Carol Davila

Portret - Vitellius

Torso of a Young Man

Torso of a Young Woman

Sleeping Child

Two Penguins

Message of Peace

Physics affirms that the most likely shape, that any given element is going to take, is that of a sphere.

In many of Brancusi’s works of art, we observe egg-like, sphere-like lines, shapes, thus the observer understands that his whole life’s work is that of a quest for perfection. But perfection isn’t that easy to reach. Perseverance is highly priced. It took him two years of marching to get to Paris from Romania. He took this journey of enlightening when he was no more of a child. Shortly after this he became famous.

Peace can only put up routes where a perfect society exists. What Brancusi is telling us is that we should persevere, till Infinity if necessary, to reach perfection, thus to reach Peace.