''La Mano'' (''The Hand'') is a sculpture in

Punta del Este Punta del Este () is a seaside city and peninsula on the Atlantic Coast in the Maldonado Department of southeastern Uruguay. Starting as a small town, Punta del Este grew to become a resort for the Latin and North American jet set and tourists. T ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

an artist Mario Irarrázabal. (Chilean newspaper, in Spanish) It depicts five human

finger A finger is a prominent digit (anatomy), digit on the forelimbs of most tetrapod vertebrate animals, especially those with prehensile extremities (i.e. hands) such as humans and other primates. Most tetrapods have five digits (dactyly, pentadact ...

s partially emerging from sand and is located on Parada 1 at Brava Beach in

, a popular tourist town in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. It is also known as either ''Los Dedos'' (''The Fingers''), or ''Hombre emergiendo a la vida'' (''Man Emerging into Life''). In English, its popular name is ''The Hand''. It is a famous sculpture
- Puntadeleste.com (Uruguayan website, in Spanish) that has become a symbol for Punta del Este since its completion in February 1982 Punta del Este: para extasiarse de belleza
- La Capital (Argentinian newspaper, in Spanish) and in turn has become one of Uruguay's most recognizable landmarks.

History

The sculpture was made by Chilean artist Mario Irarrázabal during the summer of 1982 , while he was attending the first annual International Meeting of Modern Sculpture in the Open Air in Punta del Este. There were nine sculptors, and he was the youngest one. There was a fight for the places assigned on a public square, so he decided to make his sculpture on the beach. He was inspired to make a sculpture of a hand "drowning" as a warning to swimmers, as the waters at La Barra up the beach had rougher waves which were better for surfing, while the other way, waters at Solanas were much more suited for swimming practices and windsurfing activities. While Irarrázabal had the entire summer to complete the project, he managed to finish in the first six days, despite facing minor delays due to the strong southeast wind which is common in Punta del Este. The concrete and plastic fingers were reinforced with steel bars, metal mesh, and a degradation-resistant solvent covering the plastic on the outside. Throughout that summer, sculptors from around the world worked on their creations at the beach, but only Irarrázabal's continues to sit on the beach today, not having left its original spot, and remaining largely untouched. It gained Irarrázabal worldwide acclaim and is popularized by tourist photographs and reproductions on postcards. He later made near or exact replicas of the sculpture for the city of

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

(in 1987), the '' Mano del Desierto'' (Hand of the Desert) in the

Atacama Desert The Atacama Desert () is a desert plateau located on the Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast of South America, in the north of Chile. Stretching over a strip of land west of the Andes Mountains, it covers an area of , which increases to if the barre ...

in Chile (1992), and in

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

(1995).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mano De Punta Del Este Outdoor sculptures Monuments and memorials in Uruguay 1982 sculptures Concrete sculptures Punta del Este Buildings and structures in Punta del Este

History

See also

References