The monumental Alexander Calder sculpture that has dominated the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building for nearly four decades is finally getting the upgrade its creator envisioned. The Calder Foundation announced Thursday that Mountains and Clouds is undergoing a restoration that will, for the first time, allow the mobile component to move as Calder originally designed.
The two-part installation, conceived shortly before Calder's death in 1976 and installed in the Hart building in 1986, consists of a 51-foot-high grounded stabile representing mountains and a 75-foot-wide mobile representing clouds. But due to the engineering and material limits of the era, the mobile never moved as the artist intended. It froze in place by 1992 and was removed in 2014.
Now, with the help of cutting-edge technology, the mobile has been rebuilt and will soon be rehung. The $12 million project, funded by philanthropists Jon and Kim Shirley, is a "historic public-private initiative" that comes at no cost to taxpayers, the foundation said. The restoration is expected to be completed later this year.
"This restoration project will allow visitors from across the United States and around the world, as well as the Senators and staffers who work in Hart, to experience Mountains and Clouds as Calder envisioned, with the work's mobile and stabile in poetic, dynamic dialogue," the foundation said in a statement.
The project has drawn bipartisan praise from lawmakers who championed the decade-long effort. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called the sculpture "an American work of art" and said the restoration underscores "the importance of preserving the art and history of the U.S. Capitol." Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) noted that "the Hart Building belongs to the American people, and so does the art within it."
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), whose offices in Washington and Chicago both feature Calder works, said that "for too long, half of the story of Mountains and Clouds has been missing." He thanked the Shirleys and the foundation, saying the sculpture will now be experienced "the way Alexander Calder intended."
Former Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), who as chairman of the Rules Committee fielded an early request to "rehang the clouds," said it "has taken more than a decade, but the answer is yes." Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) predicted that "Americans from across the country traveling to the Senate will be greeted by this masterpiece in all its restored glory."
Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) called the sculpture "one of our nation's most significant works of public art" and said he is "thrilled that the restoration is moving forward" and that the clouds have returned to Hart.
The restoration is part of a broader conversation about the preservation of public art in the Capitol complex. As officials weigh how to maintain historic works, the Calder project offers a model for how private philanthropy can step in, much like the controversy over a sculpture at the Kennedy Center. The project also highlights the technical challenges of maintaining large-scale installations, a topic that has drawn attention as historic buildings undergo careful restoration.
With the mobile's return, the Hart atrium will once again serve as a living civic space, the foundation said, where the public can encounter one of the great achievements of American art.
