Spiral (Nature's Way) 1971

Meret Oppenheim created “Spiral (Nature’s Way)” as a playful investigation into how forms can be both familiar and strange, organic and constructed. Look closely at the way she coaxes the medium into a spiraling form, almost like a sapling reaching for the sun. The texture is key here; it feels rough, like bark, but also smooth, like polished stone. Notice the contrast between the naturalistic stem and the geometric shapes at the top – a circle and a square. The patinated surfaces of these shapes add to the feeling of the sculpture having been unearthed, like an archeological find. This juxtaposition of natural and geometric forms reminds me of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s sculptures, which similarly blend biomorphic shapes with modernist abstraction. Ultimately, Oppenheim's "Spiral" invites us to reconsider what we think we know about nature and artifice, and how the two can intertwine in unexpected ways.