The Four Elements is a monumental mobile sculpture created by the American sculptor Alexander Calder in 1961.
The sculpture is a motorized moving group of four metal sheets. The artwork is about 30 feet high. The sheets are painted in plain colours. This sculpture is made after a Calder model from 1938.
The artwork was brought from New York by Pontus Hultén (that time, the director of Moderna Museet). The Four Elements was a part of the exhibition Movement in Art (Rörelse i konsten), and the exhibition was on display in Moderna Museet from 16 May till 10 September 1961.
As a memory of the artist's extensive presence in the exhibition, Calder's The Four Elements was left standing outside the museum. The artwork became a signature and a veritable symbol of the Moderna Museet. It was donated to the museum by Alexander Calder and the engineer Allan Skarne in 1967. The Four Elements is a part of the Sculpture park (Swedish Skulpturparken) outside the Moderna Museet.
References
Calder : Alexander Calder 1898-1976 : Moderna museet. Nieckels, Monica; Helleberg, Margareta. Moderna Museet, Stockholm, 1996.
The History Book On Moderna Museet 1958-2008. Tellgren, Anna; Sundberg, Martin; Rosell, Johan. Moderna museet, Stockholm. Göttingen: Steidl, 2008. p. 100, p. 235.
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