The Museum of Cycladic Art will present for the first time to the public the work Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange) (2013-2019) by the internationally acclaimed American artist Jeff Koons. It will be hosted from March 19 to August 31, 2026, at the Stathatos Mansion alongside ten replicas of “Venus” figurines from the Upper Paleolithic period, raising the question of how the universal archetype of fertility transcends time and space.

For this work, Koons draws inspiration from the Paleolithic “Venus of Lespugue,” a figurine carved from mammoth ivory dating back approximately 28,000 years. The depiction of the goddess of love and fertility has influenced Koons’ work since the late 1970s.

Koons’ interpretation of the Venus of Lespugue, part of the Antiquity series that began in 2008, includes a wide range of references to art history—from Botticelli and Titian to Duchamp and Brâncuși—and broadly addresses timeless concepts of beauty and form. Through a detailed and multi-year process, Koons transformed the fetishistic original, known for its exaggerated curvaceous forms, into a monumental sculpture made of polished and reflective stainless steel that appears balloon-like and reminiscent of the proportions seen in Giacometti’s works.

The ten replicas of Upper Paleolithic “Venus” figurines surrounding the work are loans from museums that house the immovable originals. Among them is the replica of the immediate source of inspiration, the Venus of Lespugue from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

Balloon Venus Lespugue (Orange) (2013-2019) comes from the Homem Sonnabend Collection (owned by Antonio Homem Sonnabend and Phokion Potamianos Homem). The presentation will be accompanied by a new publication featuring essays by Jeff Koons and leading scholars, detailing new research on the Paleolithic period in Greece and abroad.

A few words about Jeff Koons

The internationally renowned artist Jeff Koons (born 1955, York, Pennsylvania) is widely known for his iconic sculptures Rabbit and Balloon Dog, as well as monumental-scale works featuring flowers like Puppy and Split-Rocker. Using everyday objects, his work revolves around themes such as self-acceptance and transcendence.

Since his first solo exhibition in 1980, his works have been shown at major museums and galleries worldwide. His art was the subject of a major exhibition organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2014, which later traveled to the Centre Pompidou and the Guggenheim Bilbao.

Koons has received numerous awards and honors in recognition of his cultural achievements. Specifically, President Chirac promoted Koons to Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour. He was also awarded the U.S. Department of State’s Medal of Arts and was the first guest artist at the Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University. He serves on the board of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) and co-founded the Koons Family Institute, aimed at combating child abduction and exploitation worldwide. He lives and works in New York City.