Monument au Fantome

Sculpted by French artist Jean Debuffet in 1977 for the plaza at 1100 Louisiana Street, Monument au Fantome was moved to Discovery Green across from the George R. Brown Convention Center in 2008. The park’s most well-known artwork and one of Houston’s great treasures, the large free-form red-white-blue sculpture along Avenida de las Americas bears a name that means “imaginary monument” in French. The sculpture, which is constructed of painted fiberglass over a steel frame, consists of seven individual forms, the tallest at 33 feet, represent different features of Houston, including a church, hedge, chimney, dog, phantom, tree and mast. Dubuffet liked to communicate fresh ideas without reference to “cultural clichés,” taking inspiration from the art of outsiders, which he called “L’Art Brut.”

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