Monumento al Ahogado (English: Monument to the Drowned) is a sculpture of five fingers partially submerged in sand, located on Parada 1 at Brava Beach in Punta del Este, a popular resort town in Uruguay. It is colloquially referred to as either Monumento los Dedos (Monument of the Fingers) or La Mano(The Hand). In English, its popular name is The Hand.
It is a famous sculpture that has become a symbol for Punta del Este since its completion in February 1982, and in turn has become one of Uruguay's most recognizable landmarks.
History
The sculpture was made by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal during the summer of 1982, while he was attending the first annual International Meeting of Modern Sculpture in the Open Air in Punta del Este. There were nine sculptors and he was the youngest one. There was a fight for the places assigned on a public square, and he decided to go to make his sculpture on the beach. He was inspired to make a sculpture of a hand "drowning" as a warning to swimmers, as the waters at La Barra up the beach had rougher waves which were better for surfing only, while the other way, waters at Solanas were much more suited for swimming practice and windsurfing activities.
While Irarrázabal had the entire summer to complete the project, he managed to finish in the first six days, despite facing minor delays due to the strong southeast wind which is common in Punta del Este. The concrete and plastic fingers were reinforced with steel bars, metal mesh, and a degradation-resistant solvent covering the plastic on the outside.
Throughout that summer, sculptors from around the world worked on their creations at the beach, but only Irarrázabal's continues to sit on the beach today. It gained Irarrázabal worldwide acclaim and is popularized by tourist photographs and reproductions on postcards. He later made near or exact replicas of the sculpture for the city of Madrid (in 1987), in the Atacama Desert in Chile (1992), and in Venice (1995).
The hand has not left its original spot, and has remained largely untouched, save for minor graffiti on the palm side of the fingers which was written in 2005.
Wikipedia
22 Feb 04:25
junglejennifer
This is neat. Too bad so many people in photo. Thanks for sharing the information.
22 Feb 11:13
mau67
bella foto,storia interessante!
22 Feb 12:12
flipd1
RUUUUUUUUUUN!!!! RUN FOR YOU LIVES the scream right before they were crushed. Sorry, was that a bad joke?
22 Feb 13:29
paul_mack
I think the people add to the interest!
22 Feb 14:02
mitch19
I agree with Paul, the people add interest and scale to the sculpture.
22 Feb 16:02
rcuello
For nothing Phil, the witty banter
are welcome.
22 Feb 17:56
pandarino
a nice, also in Viterbo there is a similar sculpture
22 Feb 23:46
liaraasari1
Perfect for me. I agree that the people add to it and add scale
Monumento al Ahogado (English: Monument to the Drowned) is a sculpture of five fingers partially submerged in sand, located on Parada 1 at Brava Beach in Punta del Este, a popular resort town in Uruguay. It is colloquially referred to as either Monumento los Dedos (Monument of the Fingers) or La Mano(The Hand). In English, its popular name is The Hand. It is a famous sculpture that has become a symbol for Punta del Este since its completion in February 1982, and in turn has become one of Uruguay's most recognizable landmarks. History The sculpture was made by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal during the summer of 1982, while he was attending the first annual International Meeting of Modern Sculpture in the Open Air in Punta del Este. There were nine sculptors and he was the youngest one. There was a fight for the places assigned on a public square, and he decided to go to make his sculpture on the beach. He was inspired to make a sculpture of a hand "drowning" as a warning to swimmers, as the waters at La Barra up the beach had rougher waves which were better for surfing only, while the other way, waters at Solanas were much more suited for swimming practice and windsurfing activities. While Irarrázabal had the entire summer to complete the project, he managed to finish in the first six days, despite facing minor delays due to the strong southeast wind which is common in Punta del Este. The concrete and plastic fingers were reinforced with steel bars, metal mesh, and a degradation-resistant solvent covering the plastic on the outside. Throughout that summer, sculptors from around the world worked on their creations at the beach, but only Irarrázabal's continues to sit on the beach today. It gained Irarrázabal worldwide acclaim and is popularized by tourist photographs and reproductions on postcards. He later made near or exact replicas of the sculpture for the city of Madrid (in 1987), in the Atacama Desert in Chile (1992), and in Venice (1995). The hand has not left its original spot, and has remained largely untouched, save for minor graffiti on the palm side of the fingers which was written in 2005. Wikipedia
This is neat. Too bad so many people in photo. Thanks for sharing the information.
bella foto,storia interessante!
RUUUUUUUUUUN!!!! RUN FOR YOU LIVES the scream right before they were crushed. Sorry, was that a bad joke?
I think the people add to the interest!
I agree with Paul, the people add interest and scale to the sculpture.
For nothing Phil, the witty banter are welcome.
a nice, also in Viterbo there is a similar sculpture
Perfect for me. I agree that the people add to it and add scale