French sculptor Antoine Dufilho has unveiled Formula One, a life-size kinetic sculpture installed on the bow of the superyacht Stella Maris in the port of Monaco for the duration of the Formula 1 Louis Vuitton Grand Prix de Monaco 2026.
The work — red, built entirely from aluminium, and the full dimensions of a Formula 1 monopost — deconstructs the car into successive layers of metal, alternating solid and void so that, though completely still, it reads as movement. The effect changes depending on where the viewer is standing.
Dufilho, who has been developing this approach with automotive subjects since turning to sculpture full-time in 2012, describes the tension between stillness and speed as central to what the work is doing. “The sculpture does not move, but the rhythm of the metal, the voids, the lines and the reflections suggest speed and motion,” he told Monaco Life’s Cassandra Tanti. “A Formula 1 car is normally associated with noise, power and acceleration. Here, it is silent and still, but the viewer can still feel the energy. That contrast is exactly what makes the image so strong.”
From a crane in Italy to the harbour in Monaco
Getting the sculpture onto the Stella Maris was not a straightforward process. It was lifted by crane onto the yacht in Italy before the vessel made the journey to Monaco by sea — an arrival conceived, in Dufilho’s words, as the cinematic opening of the event.
Watching the work go up was, by his account, something close to nerve-wracking. “When a full-scale sculpture leaves the ground, suspended above a yacht, you suddenly become very aware of its weight, its fragility, and all the work behind it,” he said. “Seeing it finally installed on the Stella Maris, floating towards Monaco, was almost unreal. It was the moment where the sculpture entered a completely different dimension.”
Voids as material
The layering technique Dufilho uses on Formula One is the same he has applied to Bugatti, Ferrari and Porsche bodies in earlier works — but at full scale, the effect is more confrontational. Asked what he is trying to reveal that a conventional representation of a car could not, he says: “I’m trying to show something normally invisible: the rhythm of the form, the flow of air over the body shape, the tension of the lines. The voids are just as important as the metal. They allow the viewer to mentally reconstruct the car, but also to feel its speed and presence in a different way.”
The parallel with the circuit itself is one Dufilho draws readily. Monaco, where barriers are centimetres from the cars and the margin for error is almost non-existent, is a context he understands. “My work requires a high level of precision. Each element has to be positioned carefully, because the rhythm only works if the lines are right. A few centimetres can change the balance of the whole sculpture. There is a real parallel with motorsport: precision, tension, control and risk.”
Art in a non-art context
‘Formula One’ is not in a gallery. It is on the water, in the middle of one of the most concentrated social events on the sporting calendar, visible to racing fans, yacht guests and tourists who may never set foot in a contemporary art space. Dufilho sees that as an opportunity rather than a complication.
“In Monaco, during the Grand Prix, many people will first approach it through emotion, curiosity or passion for racing,” he says. “The work has to speak immediately, even before any explanation. It has to create a reaction from people who may not be collectors, but who understand beauty, speed, engineering and emotion. For me, that connection with a wider public is very important.”
He came to sculpture through a family connection to the art world — his great-uncle, the actor and collector Jacques Dufilho, introduced him to the visual arts — and studied architecture and landscape at the École de Lille before committing to sculpture full-time. In July 2022, he exhibited a monumental work at the French Formula 1 Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard.
Throughout the Grand Prix weekend, a selection of smaller works is on display aboard the Stella Maris and in the VIP suites. A private Art Night is being held on board on Friday 5th June.
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Photos courtesy of Antoine Dufilho
