Igor Mitoraj

Igor Mitoraj belongs to the leading contemporary sculptors in Europe: his works can be found in the most important private and public collections all over the world, they are rare and high in demand on the art market – as the epitome of occidental aesthetics and philosophy they enchant wherever they can be seen, whether surrounded by the modern architecture of La Defense, Paris, in Canary Wharf in London, in the medieval center of Pietrasanta in Tuscany, at the course of the river Regnitz in Bamberg, at the ancient Valle dei Templi in Agrigento, Sicily, or temporarily – as in 2013 organized by DIE GALERIE – at the German Federal Foreign Ministry in Berlin. The clearly perceptible dialectic found in Mitoraj’s sculptures is situated between obeisance to the antique ideal of consummate perfection and refutation of its inviolability. What’s more, the artistic invocation of the ideals of antiquity found in Mitoraj’s bronzes give visual personification to a deeply European worldview, one that is oriented towards the interests, values and dignity of humanity. This humanistic attitude, based upon the principles of tolerance, peace and freedom. Moreover, Mitoraj’s sculptures are able to visually express the mission and guidelines of the university as a place of lecture and science characterized by the ideas of humanism.