''The Travelers'', also known as ''Les Voyageurs'', are bronze

surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

sculptures by the French artist

Bruno Catalano Bruno Catalano (born 1960Bruno Catalano official websiteBio/ref>) is an Italian French sculptor who was born in Khouribga (Morocco), renowned for creating sculptures of figures with substantial sections missing. Early life Originally from Mo ...

. The central part of each statue is missing. The artist has said that the statues are meant to represent emigrants.

Background

Catalano has said that the statues are a representation of his own life. He was a native of

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

who emigrated to France. He believes that emigrants and travelers leave a part of themselves behind that they have to forget, but yet it is always connected to them. In 2004, when he was constructing his first traveler statue, Catalano found a flaw, which gave him the idea to remove a large part of the statue. To him it represented an emigrant being "uprooted" and also depicted "suffering". Even though the statues represent something left behind, they all carry a bag and seem "to walk towards the hope of a better future". The sculptures have been interpreted as a visual representation of the losses experienced by emigrants.

Sculptures

Catalano created a whole series of these sculptures, which look like human working people. They are collectively called ''Les Voyageurs''. The sculptures are examples of surrealist art. They portray human beings with large parts of their bodies missing. Each statue carries a single case. The case represents a weight on the traveler, and also connects the upper and lower parts of the sculpture. The missing space is left for the viewer to interpret.

Public display

In 2013–2014, Bruno Catalano created the sculptures and displayed them in Marseilles, France, at the

Marseille-Fos Port Marseille-Fos Port () is the main trade seaport of France. In 2011, the port had an overall traffic of 88 million tons. It was also one of the 15 world's largest cruise ports and the fifth-largest in the Mediterranean. It has two main sites: in n ...

. The artist displayed ten of these sculptures in the port's outdoor exhibit. The most famous of these ''Traveler'' sculptures is ''Le Grand van Gogh'', which is now on permanent display in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Canada. In 2019 thirty ''Traveler'' sculptures were displayed in places around

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, Italy, as part of the

58th Venice Biennale The 58th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2019. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Ralph Rugoff curated its central exhibition, ''May You ...

. The centrepiece was a tableau in the

Church of San Gallo Church of San Gallo was a 15th-century church designed by architect Giuliano da Sangallo. The church was built outside of the city walls and it was destroyed during the Siege of Florence (1529–30). Background Lorenzo de' Medici commissioned ...

which included fragile terracotta versions of the statues. The four terracotta works were complete human figures and each was placed opposite a traditional incomplete ''Traveler'' statue in bronze, intending to represent the end of the emigrants' journeys. From July to September 2021, four of the sculptures were on display on the waterfront at

Arcachon Arcachon ( ; ) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Gironde. It is a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux, in the Landes forest. It has a sandy beach and a mild climate said to be favourable for inv ...

, France.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Travelers, The Tourist attractions in France Tourist attractions in Canada Bronze sculptures in France Outdoor sculptures in France 21st-century sculptures