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.

Prometheus in Mitoraj's Visual World

Prometheus — the Titan who stole fire from the gods and gave it to humanity, condemned by Zeus to eternal punishment — was a subject that resonated deeply with the artists of the twentieth century. Bound to a rock, with an eagle devouring his regenerating liver each day, Prometheus embodies the cost of creation, the price of knowledge, and the suffering that accompanies the act of giving. For Mitoraj, born to a Polish mother who was a forced labourer in Germany during the Second World War, the image of suffering and constraint was not abstract mythology but biographical truth.

The Prométhée bronze — one of only 8 cast, published by Artcurial in the late 1970s to early 1980s — belongs to the earliest period of Mitoraj's sculptural maturity. The warm brown patina and the lowercase signature style (igor mitoraj, not the capitalised MITORAJ of his later work) are consistent with this early dating. The work was created at almost exactly the moment when Mitoraj was transitioning from painter to sculptor, discovering bronze at the Pietrasanta foundries during his first Italian sojourn.

Why an Edition of 8 Matters

To place the Prométhée's rarity in context: the Tête Secrète, itself considered a rare Artcurial edition, was produced in 250 examples. The Kea, another early Artcurial bronze, was produced in 250 examples. The Prométhée — at 8 — is thirty times rarer than either. Most collectors with a lifetime interest in Mitoraj will never encounter one. The major auction databases (Artnet, Artprice, Invaluable) list fewer than five documented auction appearances of the Prométhée since the artist's death in 2014. This extreme scarcity means that standard auction comparables are essentially unavailable, and private sale is almost always the appropriate mechanism for a transaction involving this work.

If You Own a Prométhée

Please contact me directly. I respond the same day, every day. There is no pressure and no obligation. I will give you my honest assessment of the work's value, explain the market context, and — if you wish to sell — make a genuine and competitive offer. For a work of this rarity, discretion is essential: I will not share any information about your ownership or the work with any third party under any circumstances.

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