Double Heart by Gaetano Pesce

Double Heart, by celebrated Italian-born artist, designer, and architect Gaetano Pesce, is the final public project conceived during the artist’s lifetime and the artist’s only permanent public sculpture in the United States.

Pesce’s six-decade career redefined the possibilities of form and function in both art and design. Known for his radical use of materials and his embrace of imperfection and chance, Pesce created objects, furniture, and environments that speak to individuality, diversity, and the human condition. Interested in breaking down conventional boundaries between fine art, design, architecture, and production, Pesce created hybrid models for how to move between these disciplines, which was far ahead of his time.

Standing nearly thirty feet tall, Double Heart was inspired by a domestically-scaled lamp the artist first designed in the late 1970s. The form of two hearts pierced by an arrow—an image that recurs throughout the artist’s work — is a universal symbol of care and connection. Rendered in Pesce’s signature resin material and bold in both color and scale, Double Heart, a unique, site-specific variant of the sculpture, was envisioned specifically at a monumental scale for Boston by the artist. Pesce imagined it as a beacon for the city, reminding us of our shared duty of love and responsibility toward one another. The artist was closely involved in the planning for the project before his death in the spring of 2024 and was excited for Double Heart to be permanently sited in such an iconic location.

Widely regarded as one of the most radical and influential figures in art and design of the 20th and 21st centuries, Pesce has been the subject of numerous significant exhibitions at museums around the world. Works by the artist are held in institutional collections across the globe, including The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and many others.

Double Heart was commissioned by Samuels & Associates for Lyrik Back Bay, a recently completed air rights project featuring a half-acre, multi-level plaza located above the Massachusetts Turnpike. Lyrik, at a major intersection in Boston’s historic Back Bay, positions Double Heart at a unique location that speaks to neighborhood pedestrians, visitors to the city, and the millions of commuters who travel into Boston every year via the Massachusetts Turnpike.