Igor Mitoraj — Prométhée

The Prométhée is one of the rarest bronzes in Igor Mitoraj's entire catalogue. Published by Artcurial, Paris — the prestigious French gallery that worked with Mitoraj from his earliest years — this small bronze was cast in an edition of only 8. That is not a typo: eight examples were made. If you own one, you hold something genuinely exceptional.

About the Prométhée

Prometheus — the titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, and was eternally punished for it — was a subject that resonated deeply with Mitoraj's preoccupations. The themes of boundedness, suffering, concealment, and the relationship between the divine and the human body all run through the Prométhée bronze in concentrated form.

The Artcurial edition was produced in the late 1970s to early 1980s, during the period when Mitoraj was transitioning from painter to sculptor and his studio in Pietrasanta was becoming the centre of his creative world. Artcurial — founded in 1975 as a joint venture between major French cultural institutions — was among the first galleries to champion Mitoraj's small bronzes, and the Prométhée is among the most significant of the multiples they published together.

The bronze carries a warm brown patina and is signed igor mitoraj on the lower middle section — note the lowercase signature, characteristic of this early period. Each example is numbered from the edition of 8, and the Artcurial documentation confirms the title, edition number, and artist's signature.

Dimensions & Condition

Height approximately 23.5 cm. Brown patina. Signed and numbered. Accompanied by Artcurial documentation. This is a desktop-scale work — intimate, powerful, and rare in a way that the larger Mitoraj editions simply cannot be.

Market Value

Given the edition of only 8, the Prométhée is genuinely difficult to price by reference to standard auction comparables — most Mitoraj editions run to 250–1500 examples and thus appear at auction with regularity. An edition of 8 creates a fundamentally different scarcity. The most recent documented sale appeared at Vendu Rotterdam (May 2025) as lot 3/8. I would pay a meaningful premium over comparable small bronzes for an example of the Prométhée — please contact me to discuss.

See also: Tête Secrète (Artcurial, ed. 250) · Centurione series · All Mitoraj bronzes wanted