Merkur / Mercury

In front of the Post Tower high-rise, even a ten-metre-high bronze sculpture can look fragile and delicate, as Markus Lüpertz’s “Mercurius” demonstrates, who balances on a blue globe which in turn lies on an asymmetrical slab carried by a square base. Scattered stains of colour on the body and a face painted in bright colours reinforce the impression of watching an acrobat’s balancing act, which the ancient god performs with ease. Marked only by his winged helmet, his appearance is that of a roughly moulded nude with shortened extremities and a strong torso. This re-interpretation of the Roman god Mercury, who himself was an adaption of the Greek Hermes, shows the artist’s preference for ancient motifs. While Atlas must carry the globe and is always in danger of collapsing under his burden, Mercury in a quasi-reversed situation takes his task as the god of trade and thieves quite lightly and seems, as a shrewd clown, to be the real triumphator.