Giuseppe Penone: Albero folgorato (Thunderstruck Tree, 2012)

Giuseppe Penone’s bronze-and-gold sculpture depicts a willow split by lightning, its exposed interior lined with gold leaf; it is displayed outdoors on the plinth opposite Serpentine South.

Albero folgorato is based on a hundred-year-old willow that grew in Belgium. Penone cast the tree in bronze and lined its pulp with gold leaf, making visible the force of lightning in its split form. Serpentine presented it in Kensington Gardens as part of Thoughts in the Roots and later extended its public display.