Calder Foundation

Movement in Space

Date 1932
Media
Ink and gouache on paper
Dimensions
22 3⁄4" × 30 7⁄8"
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Klaus G. Perls, 1996
Related exhibitions  1
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1998)

National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Alexander Calder: 1898–1976. 29 March–12 July 1998.

Solo Exhibition
Works / Work on Paper 274
Related Timeline
1930–1936 Shift to Abstraction

Following a visit in October of 1930 to Piet Mondrian’s studio, where he was impressed by the environmental installation, Calder made his first wholly abstract compositions and invented the kinetic sculpture now known as the mobile. Coined for these works by Marcel Duchamp in 1931, the word “mobile” refers to both “motion” and “motive” in French. He also created stationary abstract works that Jean Arp dubbed “stabiles.”