Fat Chair

sculpture by Beuys

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July 21, 2026

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The "Fat Chair" is a notable sculptural object by German artist Joseph Beuys, created in 1964. Beuys, an avant-garde sculptor and performance artist, often used unconventional materials and symbolic meanings in his work, opposing the materialism of consumer culture.12

The "Fat Chair" features a mass of fat banked on a geometric base. This composition suggests the potential for dramatic change, particularly if the heating conditions were to alter the fat. This piece, like many of Beuys's sculptures, often served as a prop in his ritualistic performances, reflecting his interest in arcane belief systems and his critique of societal values.21

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Western painting
Germany and Italy: Joseph Beuys and Arte Povera
His Fat Chair of 1964, in which a potentially unstable mass of fat is banked up on a fixed geometric base, implying the possibility of dramatic change should the heating conditions change, is perhaps his most famous single sculptural object. Very often, though, his sculptures functioned…
Read More
His Fat Chair of 1964, in which a potentially unstable mass of fat is banked up on a fixed geometric base, implying the possibility of dramatic change should the heating conditions change, is perhaps his most famous single sculptural object. Very often, though, his sculptures functioned…
Read More