Travel Photo Thursday – Sphere of Influence

Sphere within Sphere

"Sphere within Sphere by Arnaldo Pomodoro at the United Nationa building in New York City"

Sfera con Sfera by Arnaldo Pomodoro

I took this photo on a February day outside the United Nations headquarters building in New York City. This bronze sculpture was created by Italian sculptor, Arnaldo Pomodoro, and given to the United Nations as gift from Italy in 1996. It is called Sfera con Sfera, meaning Sphere within Sphere. From this angle, you can get a partial view of the internal sphere.

Sphere within Sphere sculptures by Pomodoro can be found at Trinity College in Dublin, the Vatican Museums, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the University of California at Berkeley and other locations around the world.

What do you think Pomodoro was trying to represent by this sculpture? What does it symbolize to you?

Note: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks!

18 thoughts on “Travel Photo Thursday – Sphere of Influence

  1. Laurel

    Beautiful photo and a wonderful piece of art! I love how reflective it is. I have no idea what Pomodoro was trying to represent but I really like it.

    1. Cathy Post author

      Thanks, Laurel. I really like this work, too. I haven’t been able to find anything (even on the U.N. site about it represents. I was speculating that the UN might think it represents their attempts (as the large outer sphere) to protect people around the world (the smaller sphere inside). Don’t know.

  2. Pingback: Tweets that mention Travel Photo Thursday – Sphere of Influence » Traveling with Sweeney -- Topsy.com

  3. Nancie

    Beautiful shot, Cathy. I have no idea what it represents. Perhaps the fact that the earth is round, and through that roundness we are all connected. (my take on it)

    Thanks for posting to Travel Photo Thursday!

  4. Kerry-Ann

    I love the way you have caught the reflections in the sphere. The way you have taken the photo opened up some interesting discussions on the meaning and purpose of it. From broken but still functional to philosophical debates on true reflections vs only what we wish to see. However, I am not sure Pomodoro had any of that in mind when he made it. Still a nice sculpture.

  5. Cathy Post author

    Thanks all for your comments. I’d like to see Pomodoro’s other Sphere within Sphere sculptures sometime, too. I’ve been to Trinity College and U.C Berkeley but sad to say I don’t recall seeing them. I’ll have to go back and take a look!

  6. Natalie

    Wow – That is some piece of art. Don’t know why but to me it resembles that the world is broken but when I look at the reflections it give hope that the world can be repaired.

  7. Pingback: There's No Place Like Rome: Instagram Highlights - Traveling with Sweeney

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.