Agrippa
- Artist: Tim Scott
- Date: 1964
- Medium: Plastic and glass
- Dimensions: object: 1886 x 1130 x 1130 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is *Agrippa* by Tim Scott. The sculpture consists of a transparent perspex box that encases a slender white column. From the top of that column, a cluster of candy‑pink spheres blooms out like petals, giving the work a floral shape that feels both geometric and fluid.
Scott’s approach was to use simple forms free from any personal imprint; his titles were usually historical or literary references – in this case to Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the Roman general who built the original Pantheon. The material choices – plastic and glass – were typical of a new type of British sculpture that emerged in the 1960s, with smooth coloured surfaces and precise geometry.
He explained that “sculpture … is no longer confined by the restrictions of attitudes toward content and subject. It can achieve poetry in which the language itself is invented.” In *Agrippa* he was experimenting with colour constructively, letting the bright pink spheres contrast sharply against the pale column beneath them. The piece feels like a modern flower sculpture: the box gives a brittle-edged base, while the semi‑spheres soften the overall gesture.
With dimensions of about 188 × 113 × 113 mm, the work sits in a modest display area but commands attention through its transparent envelope and playful geometry. Its simplicity belies an underlying dialogue between structure, colour and historical reference – all wrapped inside a crystal box that lets us see light moving around each sphere.
See it in person
Agrippa is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
