Soccer in Sun and Shadow

The Man Who Turned Iron into Wind

Eduardo Chillida played goal for Real Sociedad in the Basque city of San Sebastián. Tall and skinny, he had a style of blocking shots that was his very own, and both Barcelona and Real Madrid had their eyes on him. The experts were predicting the boy would succeed Zamora.

But destiny had other plans. In 1943 a rival striker, appropriately named Sañudo, which means “enraged,” smashed Chillida’s meniscus and everything else. After five operations on his knee, Chillida bid goodbye to soccer and became a sculptor.

Thus was born one of the greatest artists of the century. Chillida works with materials so heavy they sink into the earth, but his powerful hands toss iron and reinforced concrete into the air, where they discover other spaces and create new dimensions on the fly. He used to do the same thing in the goal with his body.