Cloud Gate, 2006, by Anish Kapoor, stainless steel, 10 X 20 X 12.5 m (33 X 66 X 41 ft)

Millenium Park, Michigan Avenue, Chicago.

“The sculpture is made from hundreds of stainless-steel rectangles welded into place over an elaborate armature. Once joined, each weld was ground and the whole polished to near mirror perfection by skilled craftsmen over a period of two years. Cloud Gate is a gigantic buoyant apparent mass. Its mirrored stainless steel surface dissolves into the natural light and the surrounding buildings without giving up the presence of its form.” Sculptor Herbert George, in “The Elements of Sculpture“

Photo by the inactivist

Seen from the front, half of the sculpture reflects the sky, the viewer mentally walks into the horizon, entering the Cloud Gate. The top is convex (bulging out), it lengthens and bends the famous buildings around the park (see below). You can walk under Cloud Gate. The underside is convex, shortening and distorting reflections (see above).

By Flickr user biskuit; of sculpture: Anish Kapoor – cropped from https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/1538113210/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18060270

Photo by the inactivist

Photo by the inactivist

“In the underside of the sculpture is the omphalos, an indentation whose mirrored surface provides multiple reflections of any subject situated beneath it. The apex of the omphalos is 27 feet (8.2 m) above the ground. The concave underside allows visitors to walk underneath to see the omphalos, and through its arch to the other side so that they view the entire structure.” Timothy Gilfoyle,”Millennium Park”. The New York Times (August 6, 2006).