Updated November 2026 · ranked by our popularity score (searches, visits and orders for each work) · 4 works by Richard Serra in our catalogue
In short
Of all the originals Richard Serra left, the most famous is The Matter of Time (2005), in the collection of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao. Close behind it come One Ton Prop (House of Cards) (1969) and Robeson (1984). Our catalog holds 4 works by Richard Serra; the gallery has kept the 4 the world admires most, each shown with its date, its museum and its story.
To step into the presence of Richard Serra’s The Matter of Time is to abandon the familiar boundaries of the physical world and enter a profound dialogue with gravity, mass, and movement. This monumental installation, housed within the iconic Arcelor Gallery of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, is far more than a mere collection of industrial forms; it is a choreographed experience that reshapes the viewer's perception of reality. The work…
To stand before Richard Serra’s "One Ton Prop (House of Cards)" is not merely to observe an object; it is to confront a monumental meditation on mass, gravity, and the very nature of structure. This piece, born from the industrial heartland of mid-century American art, commands attention with its sheer, imposing presence. The sculpture itself—a massive, roughly cubic form rendered in dark, brooding metal—speaks volumes through its material reality. It…
Robeson is a work by the American artist Richard Serra. Created in 1984, the piece was published in 1985 by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles. This specific edition was released as an artist's proof, designated as a. p. III, within a total edition of fifteen.
The 3 museums that hold the most of the paintings on this page.
| Museum | City | Works by Richard Serra | Paintings from this list |
|---|---|---|---|
 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao |
Bilbao | 1 | The Matter of Time |
 MOMA - Museum of Modern Art |
New York City | 1 | One Ton Prop (House of Cards) |
 Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz |
Linz | 1 | Robeson |
Pick a decade to see the original that defines it.
To stand before Richard Serra’s "One Ton Prop (House of Cards)" is not merely to observe an object; it is to confront a monumental meditation on mass, gravity, and the very nature of structure. This piece, born from the industrial heartland of mid-century American art, commands attention with its sheer, imposing presence. The sculpture itself—a massive, roughly cubic form rendered in dark, brooding metal—speaks volumes through its material reality. It…
Robeson is a work by the American artist Richard Serra. Created in 1984, the piece was published in 1985 by Gemini G.E.L., Los Angeles. This specific edition was released as an artist's proof, designated as a. p. III, within a total edition of fifteen.
To step into the presence of Richard Serra’s The Matter of Time is to abandon the familiar boundaries of the physical world and enter a profound dialogue with gravity, mass, and movement. This monumental installation, housed within the iconic Arcelor Gallery of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, is far more than a mere collection of industrial forms; it is a choreographed experience that reshapes the viewer's perception of reality. The work…
The Matter of Time (2005), Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao. One Ton Prop (House of Cards) (1969) and Robeson (1984) come next.
67 years old: The Matter of Time dates from 2005, and Richard Serra was born in 1938.
Our catalog holds 4 works by Richard Serra, dated from 1969 to 2005.
Mostly in Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (Bilbao), MOMA - Museum of Modern Art (New York City) and Lentos Kunstmuseum Linz (Linz). The museum table above lists them all.
On this page, the earliest is One Ton Prop (House of Cards) (1969) and the latest The Matter of Time (2005).
To encounter the work of Richard Serra is to engage in a physical dialogue with gravity, mass, and the very essence of space. Born in San Francisco in 1938, Serra’s artistic consciousness was forged not in the quietude of a studio, but amidst the industrial grit of the Marine Shipyards. Watching the monumental construction of steel tankers, he developed an early, profound intimacy with the raw power of metal and the transformative potential of heavy industry. This childhood exposure to the rhythmic, massive scale of maritime engineering would later become the heartbeat of his sculptural language, turning the cold rigidity of steel into a medium of profound emotional and spatial experience.
His intellectual journey was one of unexpected transitions, moving from the linguistic structures of English Literature at the University of California, Berkeley, to the rigorous formal training of Yale University. It was during his formative years in the late 1950s and early 1960s that Serra bridged the gap between the cerebral and the tactile. While studying art history, he supported himself by working in steel mills and iron foundries, a period of labor that served as a vital apprenticeship. This hands-on mastery of fabrication allowed him to move beyond mere representation, treating steel not just as a material, but as a protagonist capable of bending, twisting, and asserting its own monumental will.
Serra’s emergence within the Minimalist and Process Art movements marked a radical shift in how sculpture was perceived by the public. He moved away from the idea of sculpture as a self-contained object sitting upon a pedestal, instead proposing that art should be an environmental encounter. His early, seminal works, such as the Splash series, utilized molten lead to trace the boundaries between floor and wall, effectively making the act of creation—the physical movement of the liquid metal—the subject of the work itself. This emphasis on the process of transformation became a cornerstone of his practice, where the traces of action remained etched into the final form.
As his career progressed, Serra’s scale expanded to match his ambitions. He began working with massive plates of Cor-Ten steel, a material celebrated for its ability to develop a warm, protective layer of rust over time. This oxidation process allowed his sculptures to exist in a state of living evolution, reacting to the atmosphere and the passage of years. His works, such as the Torqued Ellipse series, do not merely occupy space; they redefine it. By curving enormous steel walls toward the viewer, he creates compressed corridors that force a heightened awareness of one's own body, breath, and movement within the architectural void.
The historical significance of Richard Serra lies in his ability to provoke deep, often visceral, responses from both the public and the institution. His career was not without its storms, most notably the controversy surrounding Tilted Arc, a site-specific installation in New York City that was ultimately removed following intense public outcry. Yet, even in this moment of friction, Serra’s core philosophy remained unshaken: art must be inextricably linked to its site, and the viewer's relationship to that site is paramount. He believed that sculpture should not be an ornament added to a landscape, but a force that alters the very perception of the environment.
Throughout his decades of prolific creation, Serra’s achievements have been recognized with the highest honors, including the US National Arts Award and the J. Paul Getty Medal. His influence persists in the way contemporary artists approach scale, materiality, and the phenomenological experience of art. To walk through The Matter of Time is to lose oneself in a labyrinth of steel and shadow, experiencing a sense of time that is measured not by clocks, but by the slow, rhythmic movement of the human spirit through space. He leaves behind a world permanently altered by his vision—a world where steel can sing with silence and where gravity becomes a form of poetry.
