A suspicious fire on Wednesday destroyed one of the most famous sculptures by contemporary artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, the “Venus of Rocks” statue in the Italian city of Naples.

The sculpture, representing the Roman goddess of beauty, love and fertility, is located in an open space near the town hall, along with a large pile of colorful clothes lying on the ground, which was put up two weeks ago.

“Venus of Rocks”

An outdoor version of the “Venus of Rocks” installation, one of Michelangelo Pistoletto’s most famous works, was destroyed by fire, Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi said.

A new giant version of the installation, several copies of which are on display in museums around the world, was shown two weeks ago in the city’s central Piazza Monicipio in southern Italy.

Speaking to reporters in front of the burning artwork, Manfredi described the incident as an act of vandalism and was the subject of a police investigation.

Manfredi cited a “bitter” feeling for this act of “love” after his relationship with the artist Pistolito, which caused him a moral “wound”.

Bad art

Venus of the Rocks symbolizes the Bovera art movement, of which Pistoletto was one of the founders. The work depicts the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility standing before him.

First created in 1967, the installation aims to express the proximity between the eternal beauty represented by the goddess Venus and the social fragmentation and consumerism of modern society.

Speaking to Italian news agency ATN-Chronos, Pistolito said the destruction of the artwork reflected “that we continue to respond with fire and war to any display of beauty, peace and harmony”.

Several copies of the “Venus of Rocks” have been distributed to many museums around the world, bringing together an image that symbolizes traditional culture and beauty with the remnants of contemporary society.

Michelangelo Pistoletto (age 90) is considered one of the main representatives of the Italian Arte Bovera movement, and his works have previously been exhibited in New York, London and Paris.