Winged Being
- Artist: Jean Arp (Hans Arp)
- Date: 1961
- Medium: Plaster
- Dimensions: displayed: 1400 x 350 x 300 mm, 30 kg (20kg figure / 10kg base)
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “Winged Being” by Jean Arp. Created in 1961, the piece is a large plaster cast that Arp produced in collaboration with his assistants. He wanted the form to “grow” like the seeds, stars, clouds and animals he admired, and he wrote that he trusted the example of nature’s own dynamic energy. The sculpture grew out of a smaller 101‑centimetre version made earlier that same year, which later broke in an exhibition—an event that inspired Arp to carve two further works, *Angel’s Torso* and *Nocturnal Gaze*, from the upper and lower parts of the original.
The title, *Entité ailée*, draws on Assyrian mythic “winged beings”, reflecting Arp’s fascination with ancient mystic philosophy. Although the work was presented to us by Arp’s widow, Mme Marguerite Arp‑Hagenbach, in 1975, its roots are firmly planted in the surrealist exploration of form that defined much of his later career.
See it in person
Winged Being is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, 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.
