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All Sweden Stockholm 'Två Myror' ('Two Ants')

'Två Myror' ('Two Ants')

Enormous ants wielding giant pine needles guard a Stockholm real estate company's office.

Stockholm, Sweden

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“Two Ants.”   I99pema/cc by-sa 3.0
‘Två Myror’   Xavixavir / Atlas Obscura User
‘Two Ants’   Xavixavir / Atlas Obscura User
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Torgny Larsson working on the sculpture.   I99pema/cc by-sa 3.0
“Two Ants.”   I99pema/cc by-sa 3.0
The ants.   Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
One of the ants.   Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
View of the sculpture group.   Luis Morato / Atlas Obscura User
‘Två Myror’ a closer look   Xavixavir / Atlas Obscura User
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The logo for the real estate company Wallenstams is an ant carrying a conifer leaf, a design inspired by Proverbs 6:6: "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!" In other words, the insect symbolizes how hard work is necessary to achieve success.

The company commissioned Swedish artist Torgny Larsson to create a group of sculptures based on its logo to be displayed in front of its Stockholm office. Larsson wanted not only to convert the logo to a three-dimensional form, but to also create large-scale versions of the red wood ant (Formica rufa). This type of ant is native to Europe.

The two large, bronze ants Larsson created were the result of his careful observations of the red wood ant specimens at the Natural History Museum in Stockholm. In the sculpture, each insect carries two nearly 40-f00t-high (about 12 meters) pipes, which represent giant pine needles. The ants and the objects they wield are displayed atop two black blocks, which came from a granite quarry in Skåne, in the south of Sweden. 

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Ants Sculptures Public Art Giant Animals

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To reach the sculpture by tube, go to the Radmansgatan station.

 

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  • Kerry Wolfe profile photo Kerry Wolfe

Published

December 27, 2019

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Sources
  • https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tv%C3%A5_myror
  • http://www.skulptorforbundet.se/uppdrag/tva-myror
  • https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torgny_Larsson_(konstn%C3%A4r)
  • https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formica_rufa
'Två Myror' ('Two Ants')
64 Birger Jarlsgatan
Östermalm
Stockholm, 114 29
Sweden
59.342306, 18.064546
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