Vault for Man No. 63

In 1962, Pablo Serrano represented Spain at the Venice Biennale with his new series Vaults for Man (Bóvedas Para el Hombre). He further explored his worries for humankind when giving shape to the structures in this series, which "... are intended to be 'shelters for man,' even though the vaults are in ruins ..." The concave volumes are made from a mixture of plaster, cement, wooden slats, bricks, and other materials. The sculptor later turned these into bronze works. This was the case for Vaults for Man No. 63 exhibited at the Venice Biennale. Serrano enhanced the expressionism of the work by combining the bronze in its base with the texture and red color of the brick, which elevated the vault. This created an imperfectly elaborated structure and space to embrace a changing society that continued to reconstruct itself after the conflicts of war, which characterized the 20th century.