| Well of Life | |
|---|---|
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| Artist | Ivan Meštrović |
| Year | 1905 |
| Type | Bronze |
| Dimensions | 125 cm (49 in) |
| Location | Zagreb |
The Well of Life (Croatian: Zdenac života) is a sculpture by the Croatian sculptor and architect Ivan Meštrović installed in front of the Croatian National TheatreonMarshal Tito SquareinZagreb, Croatia. It depicts figures that crouch and twist their bodies around a well which symbolizes life, youth, and the source of eternal beauty.
The sculpture is circular in shape with ten naked figures in natural size that crouch and twist their bodies around a well. Those figures go from child, love couple to the old man. Their strong facial expressions show the joy of life, which alternated rhythmically makes life cycle. They are watching their reflections in the well. The bodies appear to have been frozen in motion. The bodies are arranged so that they would show to viewer the purpose of the well, and that is the desire for life and joy that can be seen best in young characters that are hugging and kissing, which are opposed to the old man who is at the end of his life, and looks with grief into the well, which is a symbol of life. Sculpture depicts man's natural cycle, from birth to death.[1][2]
The surface of sculpture is smooth and rounded, and has no sharp edges nor regular solids. Sculpture is made of bronze that showed to be very interesting material because its dark color is excellent contrast to the whiteness of bedrock on which sculpture is placed. The transitions between light and shadow are mild. Sculpture is both convex and concave. Here can be seen Auguste Rodin's influence on Meštrović. As art historian professor Ljiljana Čerina says: "With its shimmering surface treatment of the body, Meštrović brings into the Vienna Secession original Rodin's impressionism which proves that he is rodinist among secessionists, and later in Paris proves that he is secessionist among rodinists."[3]
Sculpture was made in 1905, and was exhibited in 1909 in the author's gallery in Ilica street no. 12. In year 1912, it was bought by Izidor Kršnjavi and installed on the Marshal Tito Square. It was placed in the cavity surrounded by walls so that naked bodies on it would not cause astonishment and critical comments of, at the time, conservative people in Zagreb. In correspondence with Ante Trumbić, Meštrović clearly expressed his wish that Well of Life should be placed in Split.[4]
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