Exhibition Ground of Raymond Morales – Port-de-Bouc, France - Atlas Obscura

Exhibition Ground of Raymond Morales

Port-de-Bouc, France

700 iron sculptures crammed into a Mediterranean park. 

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In 1982, Raymond Morales created a 5000-square meter, open-air museum to house his metal works, which depict surreal and disfigured people engaged in depraved sex and violence.

Morales was born in 1926 and was trained as a blacksmith in the town of Port de Bouc. During his career, he maintained a hobby of welding and forging bizarre sculptures out of iron, some as large as 13 feet high. Finally in 1982, between his home of Port de Bouc and the town of Fos, he created his own exhibition ground to display his strange works.

Housed behind a wall topped with iron faces of his own creation, Morales’ collection grew to 700 sculptures throughout his life. Many sculptures were extremely dynamic, and most of the figures he created were nude and engaged in sexual activity, violence or both at the same time. His work has been hailed as a profound venture into surrealist sculpting, and a menacing collection of exploitation art.

His work was available to the public until 2007, when he became too old to maintain his sculptures. He died in 2008, leaving behind his masterworks. Although the park is not open to the public, the sculptures are visible from behind the wall that surrounds the park.

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