Madrid Adopts “Julia” for a Year

The great sculpture, a twelve-metre-tall female head created by the artist Jaume Plensa, will remain on the empty pedestal of the Plaza de Colon for a year before travelling on to other European cities.

 Aerial view of the Plaza de Colon with the sculpture Julia in the foreground, on the right. From Elle Decor.

Madrid’s Plaza de Colon ushers in 2019 with an exceptional protagonist. Julia, the great sculpture by Jaume Plensa, already shines in the very heart of the capital, inviting reflection and introspection amid the ceaseless bustle of urban life. The work is a twelve-metre-tall sculpture reproducing the head of a girl, with her eyes closed and rendered in white. The capital’s adoption of Julia will not be permanent: the work will occupy an empty pedestal in the square (devoted to displaying temporary works of art) for a year. Once that time has passed, the sculpture will travel on to other cities in Europe. Ten years ago, the pedestal served as the base for the Statue of Columbus; today it is the exhibition surface set aside for an artistic programme of three installments, sponsored by the Maria Cristina Massaveu Peterson Foundation.

The initiative to bring Plensa’s work to Madrid was set in motion by the previous municipal government. The current council decided to press ahead with the proposal, and Julia now rises above the noise of the city, inviting passers-by to a moment of recollection. According to the Catalan artist, one of the most important figures on the contemporary scene, his work is “a poetic and virtual mirror in which each of us may see ourselves reflected […], prompting a moment of personal and intimate reflection within the agitated dynamism generated by public space”. It remains to be seen whether, once the year is out, the popular clamour will invite Julia to stay in Madrid for good. Her creator, however, is in no doubt: “Julia will leave because that is how I conceived her: as a message in a bottle”.

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