Sebastian

Sebastian is a bronze sculpture by Ernst-Reinhart Böhlig, created in 1983 and located in Stuttgart near Berliner Platz. The work presents a fragmented human torso on a slanted pedestal.

Böhlig developed the torso motif during the 1980s, and this piece places the body between upright and reclining positions. Its rough surface carries a visibly distorted expression. The name alludes to the Christian martyr Saint Sebastian, although the sculpture does not explicitly carry that title. Traditional images show the martyr tied to a tree and pierced by arrows.

Here, the damaged bronze form connects the human body with ideas of transience and passing time. The sculpture stands in green space beside Berliner Platz. Böhlig often juxtaposed materials, later combining bronze torsos with marble limbs in other works. His practice also includes painting and colourful glass figures made under Lilamonaco. He has lived and worked in Albstadt Lautlingen since 1984, while his public sculpture remains part of Stuttgart’s artistic landscape.