As visitors ascend the stairs to the Mezzanine in the East Building they will encounter a colossal 15-foot-tall, fiberglass sculpture inspired by Arcimboldo's painting "Winter" (1563), shown above, the original of which hangs in the exhibition, "Arcimboldo (1526-1593): Nature and Fantasy," opening September. 19. Paying tribute to Arcimboldo's exuberant designs for court festivals in Renaissance Vienna and Prague, American artist and filmmaker Philip Haas (b. 1954) has created "Winter (After Arcimboldo)" (2010)—at once a commentary on Arcimboldo's style and a work of art in its own right. A puzzle of natural forms—composed of a human head of bark, branches, twigs, moss, fungi, vines, and ivy—the object is both bizarre and expressive. Completed in time for the Gallery's show, the sculpture will travel to the Gardens of Versailles, the Palazzo Reale in Milan, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. In 2009, Haas' series of film installations—"Butchers, Dragons, Gods & Skeletons"—for the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX, was inspired by masterpieces in their permanent collection. Retrospectives of his art films have been held at the Tate Britain, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Lincoln Center, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Gallery of Art. His feature film, Angels & Insects, set in Victorian England, was nominated for an Academy Award®. Over the last several years, Haas has had two one-man shows of paintings and film installations at the Sonnabend Gallery in New York. Image credit: Giuseppe Arcimboldo Winter, 1563 oil on panel 66.6 x 50.5 cm (26 1/4 x 19 7/8 in.) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna