Cyclops
- Artist: Sir Eduardo Paolozzi
- Date: 1957
- Medium: Bronze
- Dimensions: object: 692 x 370 x 320 mm, 36.4 kg
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the "Cyclops" by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi, a bronze head from 1957. The figure sits at roughly 0.7 m across, its surface built from found objects—broken locks, rivets, bolts—pressed into plaster before being cast in lost‑wax bronze. When you look closer you’ll notice tiny holes puncturing the armor; they’re not deliberate openings but remain after casting and give the head a hollow core visible when you tilt it. The whole texture reads like an industrial collage of mass manufacture. In myth, Cyclops were one‑eyed giants who forged thunderbolts for Zeus; Paolozzi’s faceless, battered creature echoes that heroics with a hint of irony—heroic yet pathetic. This piece is part of his early series of disembodied heads exploring man in the machine age.
See it in person
Cyclops is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
