The Watering Can Sculpture

The Watering Can sculpture, in Le Mans

The Watering Can sculpture is an unusual work of old Le Mans, a giant zinc watering can nearly four metres high, accompanied by a monumental spade and rake. The Le Mans audio-guided tour stops here to evoke this poetic creation of the Sarthe artist Francis Arsène, alias Arzinc, who sublimates zinc to water the city with fantasy, moved each year during the Festival of Roses.

The poetic zinc giant

Turn your head slightly to the left: here you are face to face with a watering can. But not just any one. Forget the discreet tool stored in a garden shed: this one is nearly four metres high. It is a zinc giant, accompanied by its acolytes, an equally impressive spade and rake. Welcome in front of the unusual work of the Sarthe artist Francis Arsène, alias Arzinc. This art craftsman is known for reusing zinc in a poetic and creative way, in order to sublimate the outdoor spaces. The watering can, a familiar everyday object, becomes here monumental, almost theatrical. It imposes itself with humour in the urban space, as if to water the city with poetry and fantasy: a simple artistic gesture, but powerfully evocative, that amuses young and old. Subverting the scale of objects, Arzinc invites the passer-by to take another look at his environment and to recover his childhood soul. The work is moreover regularly moved during annual events, like the Festival of Roses, a spring event organised each month of May, that celebrates the gardens and the flowering of the city. Unusual and joyful, this sculpture has become one of the artistic touches that make the charm of old Le Mans. An unusual work and a zinc giant, the Watering Can sculpture is a fine stop of the discovery of Le Mans.

What to see

Here you discover an unusual work of old Le Mans, a giant zinc watering can nearly four metres high, accompanied by a monumental spade and rake, signed by the Sarthe artist Arzinc; subverting with humour the scale of familiar objects, it waters the city with poetry and is regularly moved during the Festival of Roses, in May. The Watering Can sculpture is an artistic touch of Le Mans. It is a fine stop, to be explored on foot.

Practical information

The Watering Can sculpture is in old Le Mans, within the Plantagenet City, reachable on foot. It is a work in free access in the public space, sometimes moved during events like the Festival of Roses in May. You discover it during a walk in the old town.

Who made the Watering Can sculpture in Le Mans?

The Sarthe artist Francis Arsène, alias Arzinc, known for reusing zinc in a poetic way in order to sublimate the outdoor spaces; this giant watering can nearly four metres high, accompanied by a monumental spade and rake, subverts with humour the scale of familiar objects and is regularly moved during the Festival of Roses, in May.

Where is the Watering Can sculpture in Le Mans?

In old Le Mans, within the Plantagenet City, in France.