Two enormous portraits of Kings Felipe and Letizia, engraved on steel plates, have adorned the Zarzuela gardens since their author, the Mallorcan sculptor Lolo Garner, had them sent to the royal residence after having shown them to him personally in Mallorca.
The sculptures, a modern installation, were placed in the rear gardens of the Zarzuela, a place that is normally in the private area and, therefore, difficult to see for visitors. Yesterday, however, the King received a series of audiences and that location was chosen for the official photos with the intention, perhaps, of giving visibility to Garner's work since the audiences had media coverage.
The sculptor, who knows the Kings from his stays in Mallorca, made a first sculpture with the portrait of the King in 2021 and the piece, 2.20 meters high, two meters wide and four hundred kilos in weight, was placed in the Club Náutico de Palma during the celebration of the Copa del Rey de Vela and later returned to the artist's workshop. La Zarzuela accepted the gift of the voluminous piece, but the sculptor, before moving it from the island to the peninsula, waited to create a second work with the portrait of the Queen.
Last summer, also in Mallorca, the sculptor informed the King that he had already finished the two works. He then wanted to joke with the king. "Your Majesty, the sculpture of his wife looked better on me and I think it surpassed yours." To which the monarch replied: "It's more interesting to both of us that you like it." As the artist himself explains, the particularity of the work is its visual effect (kinetics) by which the image varies depending on the position from which it is viewed, which makes it appear that it is not fixed but in motion.
Finally, the two enormous pieces, properly packaged, traveled by boat and then by road to Zarzuela, where they were installed last December.
