The Great Relief

Willumsen first thought of creating the relief when he was at the Chicago World Fair in 1893, envisaging it as a decoration for a wall in one of the city's bars.

Willumsen supervised the selection and cutting of the variously coloured pieces of Carrara marble in Lazzarini's Italian workshop.

[1] In his earliest notes on the work, Willumsen explained he intended to illustrate various degrees of happiness by using different symbols.

According to Willumsen, the reaction of the opposite sex is a "quivering sensation" leaving a greater impression than the strong burst of humour at the lowest level.

The relief, he explained, centres on two "giants", dividing it into positive and negative parts.