The Hero
A solitary figure sits atop a white horse, holding a white flag aloft in a gesture of quiet dignity and surrender. The work draws on deeply personal grief, created in memory of Abramović's father, a Yugoslav Partisan celebrated as a war hero. The image exists in tension between triumph and mourning, honoring a man whose public heroism stood in contrast to the complexity of their private relationship.
- Location
- Phillips, Salt Lake City, UT
- Spotted At
- Auction House · PhillipsView on map
🔨 Auction Lot
Contemporary Art Day Sale
June 28, 2013
More by Marina Abramović
Artists in conversation
Cindy Sherman
American · b. 1954
Sherman similarly uses the solitary human figure as a conceptual vehicle to explore identity, grief, and personal narrative, constructing carefully staged photographic tableaux that balance vulnerability with symbolic power in ways that closely parallel The Hero.
Ana Mendieta
Cuban-American · b. 1948
Mendieta created deeply personal performance and body art works that processed grief, displacement, and familial loss through minimalist and symbolic imagery, sharing Abramović's commitment to using the human body as a site of mourning and cultural memory.
Kiki Smith
American · b. 1954
Smith's work consistently meditates on the human figure in states of vulnerability, dignity, and transformation, often drawing on personal loss and quietly provocative symbolism that echoes the tension between triumph and mourning central to The Hero.
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