Bracusi's Studio

There are many examples around the world of artist’s studios being preserved after the artist's death, and becoming museums.

Some appear to have been left so abruptly that they give the unsettling impression that at any minute the artist will walk back in and commence working.

But there are very few examples where an artist’s studio has been meticulously reconstructed after their death, as has Brancusi’s Paris atelier.

Luckily for us Brancusi had the foresight to bequeath his studio — complete with all artworks— to the French state.

This was on the condition that it would remain, or be reconstructed, exactly as it had been at the time of his death.

This idea would perhaps not work with every artist. But for Brancusi the relationship between his sculptures and the space they occupied were as important as the sculptures themselves.

Later is his life he ceased creating new work altogether, and concentrated on the way his existing sculptures related to each other within the studio. In this way the studio became an artwork in its own right.

Skilfully realised by the architect Renzo Piano, Brancusi’s studio is adjacent to the Centre Pompidou in Paris.