Stravinsky Fountain

The Stravinsky Fountain serves as a mechanical theater, featuring sixteen sculptures that glide and rotate within a shallow basin to mimic the unpredictable energy of Igor Stravinsky’s music. Swiss artist Jean Tinguely designed the black, jagged, machine-like forms, while his partner, French artist Niki de Saint Phalle, contributed the vibrant, rounded, and colorful figures. When the fountain was first commissioned, city officials feared these bright, playful sculptures would clash with the industrial, pipes-exposed architecture of the adjacent Centre Pompidou, but the resulting contrast has since become a defining landmark of the square. Beneath the surface of the pool lies the Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique, or IRCAM, a specialized research center for contemporary music. Because this facility occupies the underground space, the fountain was engineered with a lightweight stainless steel basin and sculptures made of resin to prevent any structural strain on the building below.