PUBLIC ART | GIUSEPPE PENONE: ALBERO FOLGORATO EXTENDED AT SERPENTINE SOUTH

At Serpentine South
Until 16 August 2026

Expanding on the significance of trees as a recurring motif throughout Penone’s work and enabling the artist to “perceive the space of Serpentine as a continuum with the nature of the park that surrounds it”, an outdoor monumental sculpture is presented on the plinth opposite the gallery. The public artwork remains on view until Sunday 16th August 2026.

Albero folgorato (Thunderstruck Tree, 2012) is based on a hundred-year-old willow that grew in Belgium, the sculpture depicts a willow tree struck by lightning with its wounds decorated with gold. Penone cast the tree in bronze and lined its pulp with gold leaf, capturing the invisible force of nature that sculpts its splintered shape and complex internal structure.

Last year, Serpentine presented Thoughts in the Roots, the most comprehensive institutional exhibition of Giuseppe Penone in London (3 April – 7 September 2025).

Public art has emerged as a central strand of Serpentine’s programme. Major presentations include a collection of Eduardo Paolozzi’s sculptures (1987), Anish Kapoor’s Turning the World Upside Down (2010), Lee Ufan’s Relatum – Stage (2018-19), Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s London Mastaba in the Serpentine Lake (2018), I LOVE YOU EARTH by Yoko Ono (2021), Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s In remembrance of the coming alien (Alienor) (2022), Atta Kwami’s DzidzƆ kple amenuveve (Joy and Grace) (2021-22), Gerhard Richter’s STRIP-TOWER (2023), Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (2024), Esther Mahlangu’s mural Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (2024). More to be announced in 2026.