Ossip Zadkine (1888-1967) - La ville détruite

1947/1951

Small version: 128 x 56 x 58 cm

Large version: 280 x 200 x 600 cm.

Bronze

Edition of 6 + 4 EA

 

More about Zadkine's war monument The destroyed city

On May 14, 1940, the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands was bombed by the Germans. More than 24,000 homes were reduced to ashes in fifteen minutes. According to Zadkine, he got inspiration for the 'Destroyed City' statue when he saw the ruins of Rotterdam. Like many Zadkine stories, this is not the truth. Zadkine made the statue that would later become 'The Destroyed City' in 1947. The statue was a gift from the management of department store De Bijenkorf. The statue was unveiled on 15 May 1953 and is now one of the most important war memorials in the Netherlands.

The sculpture depicts a human figure with its head thrown back, mouth open in a silent scream, and arms stretched upward. Most strikingly, the figure has a gaping hole in its torso, symbolising the “heart” torn out of the city by the 1940 bombing. This refers to the historic city center of Rotterdam, which was nearly entirely destroyed. Zadkine described the work as “a cry of horror against the inhuman brutality of this act of tyranny.”

Zadkine was inspired to create The Destroyed City after visiting Rotterdam in 1946, just a few years after it had been bombed during World War II. He was deeply shaken by the sight of the city’s empty, flattened core, which once held its historic heart. According to Zadkine himself, the idea came like a lightning bolt upon seeing the devastation. He later said: "It was as if a human body had been hollowed out, the heart ripped away." But as with many of Zadkine's statements this is probably not the truth as there are other stories about how Zadkine got his inspiration for the Destroyed City sculpture.