Italian sculptor Arnaldo Pomodoro has died at his home in Milan on the eve of his 99th birthday, his foundation and the Italian Culture Ministry reported on Monday.
Pomodoro was known for his abstract "sphere within sphere" sculptures, which can be seen at UN headquarters in New York and the Vatican Museums, among other prominent locations.
While many are to be found in the United States and Italy, Dublin, Rotterdam, Warsaw, Tel Aviv, Jeddah, Tehran, and various Japanese cities, including Hiroshima, also host the sculptures.
Pomodoro first came to international attention with a 3.5-metre work for the Montreal Expo in 1967.
"His open and wounded 'spheres' still tell us today of the fragility and complexity of humanity and the world," the Italian Culture Ministry said.
Pomodoro was born in Morciano di Romagna in 1926, a small town in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. He started out aiming to become an architect or set builder — interests revealed in his later work.
He combined technical precision with geometric form, frequently using gold and bronze as his materials.
Following studies in art, Pomodoro and his brother Giò moved to Milan, where he gained international renown.—dpa
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