Alexander Calder famously declared that “above all, art should be fun”, a notion evident across the spectrum of the American artist’s diverse output. This is particularly true of this multifaceted sculpture, Five Swords, built using industrial materials and painted an eye-popping shade of red. It has been on loan to the Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, New York for the past thirty three years, but this week will relocate to the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. While it will undoubtedly fit right in within its new, Mies van der Rohe-designed setting, there’s no denying it cut an amazingly striking dash against the hilly backdrop of the lauded sculpture park.
