Chillida’s profound sense of belonging to his land of birth and to Nature permeates his choice of materials. Since 1951, when he returned to his hometown after spending three years in Paris, iron became an essential component of his work. A common material in the rural Basque world, it was an emotional discovery for him when he entered the forge of his friend Illarramendi: “I had been working with plaster, but I knew that it was not the right material for what I was working on. I was aware that I was using the wrong material to work with the kind of light I belong to. Then, all of a sudden, I wondered: could it be iron, is it iron? And I went to see Illarramendi. I went to his place, met him and realized, as soon as I set foot in his forge, that I was right. Everything was black! That is where I discovered iron.”

In iron Chillida found the changing, dark light that grounds him in his environment. With iron he engaged not only in formal experimentation, he also explored how rust provides the piece with a wider chromatic range.

“Bilbao owes a lot to iron, and so do I… It is a homage to the history of iron in this city. It comes from the earth, is transformed and rises upwards.” With those words Chillida inaugurated his sculpture in Plaza Circular in Bilbao, a work commission by BBV in 1990-1991 for the bank’s headquarters. He discussed the exact location for the sculpture with Norman Foster, who designed the metro in Bilbao, and placed it originally next to one of entrances to the station.

Made in rusted steel, measuring 4 metres high and weighing 18 tons, the piece pays tribute to iron, the metal so closely connected to the artist and to the city.

The work opens up to the environment through its four appendages. When talking about Chillida it is impossible not to speak of his study of the void, of space. This profound interest came from his training as an architect. As he himself said, “building is constructing in space. That is what sculpture is all about, and more generally, sculpture and architecture.”