Kneeling Youth

Kneeling Youth is George Minne's best-known sculpture. The lean figure's vulnerable pose with bowed head and crossed arms gives the sculpture a sense of quiet introspection. It was originally made as a set of five identical marble figures arranged in an inward looking circle around the edge of a fountain. Minne made the first version around 1898, when his work was just beginning to be recognized in Europe. This monument was first exhibited in Vienna at the Eighth Exhibition of the Secession in 1900, and after its appearance there, the Kneeling Youth became an icon of Viennese modern art. The original fountain resides at the Folkwang Museum in Essen, Germany.