Unique Forms of Continuity in Space

Italian artist Umberto Boccioni created this Unique Forms of Continuity in Space in 1913, the work of Futurist sculpture. The striding figure appears to merge with the air it displaces, muscular forms flowing backward like flames. Boccioni sought to capture speed, force, and the interpenetration of body and environment.

The Futurists worshipped modernity, machines, and motion. Boccioni wrote that sculpture should "abolish the finite line and the closed statue" and instead show objects interacting with their surroundings. This figure achieves that goal: we see not a man walking but the act of walking itself, force made visible in bronze.

The original plaster was cast in bronze only after Boccioni's death in 1916 at age 33. The Museum of Modern Art in New York owns a cast, as does the Tate Modern in London. The image appears on the Italian 20-cent euro coin, a fitting tribute to an artist who celebrated speed and believed Italy must embrace the future. His sculpture captured that future in permanent form.