Why are you going to Rome again?

Ernesto Neto created the work The Falling Body [Le corps] female [from Leviathan Thot] (O corpo que cai [Le corps] fêmea [de Leviathan Thot]), 2006] for the Panthéon in Paris. The building became a monument to humanist ideology after the French Revolution—it embodies modern politics and science revolution and symbolizes the birth of contemporary Western society. The work is now installed at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, which fully represents contemporary architecture, according to the artist. Neto considers the building designed by Gehry to be an emblematic symbol of our times.

In the mid-1990s, the artist moved on from the geometric language of his first works and began to fill pieces of polyamide with such diverse materials as styrofoam balls, flour and spices, to create forms that resemble the human body or other living organisms. In The Falling Body [Le corps] female [from Leviathan Thot], the enormous white form suspended overhead almost seems to breathe. Its long, soft limbs hang heavily, reminding us of the force of gravity that anchors us to the earth. The sculpture is pliable, sensual, and transitory—like our own bodies.