Lucio Fontana's Nature series is comprised of forty-four works created in terracotta between 1959 and 1960, thirty-three of which were cast in bronze, such as the present work. Each Natura was molded by hand and formed into organic terracotta spheres or slabs before the artist began to forcefully gouge, slice and tear through the heavy clay, often creating a deep central cleft, imbuing the abstract form with a sense of corporeality and also the cosmological, at once feeling primordial and futuristic. It is notable that Concetto Spaziale, Natura, 1959, was created during the epoch of the ‘Space Race’ and just two years before the first human reached space – a period that fascinated the artist and was directly correlated to the Spatialist movement he founded which called for art to embrace science and technology, synthesizing light, time, space and movement. Concetto Spaziale, Natura, 1959, cast with a rich lead-black patina, revealing a line of raw ochre inside the vertically slashed clay, is an exemplar manifestation of the artist’s dedication to evoking the infinite through tactile form and vigorous gesture.