Squares with Two Circles
sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, 1963-1964, in the sculpture garden of the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Netherlands
Squares with Two Circles (BH 347) is a large bronze sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, standing over 3 m (9.8 ft) high. It was designed in 1963 and cast at the Morris Singer foundry in 1964, in an edition of 3+1 (three casts for sale, plus one artist's copy). The four casts are displayed at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the University of Liverpool, the Kröller-Müller Museum, and at the Nasher Sculpture Center.
From the front, the sculpture comprises three flat rectangular shapes stacked above each other, with the upper two each pieced by an offset circular hole, lifted by the third forming a plinth. The holes are slightly conical, one widening to the front and the other to the back. From the rear, the rectangular shapes are stacked, with the lower rectangle extending beyond the lower hole, and the upper two shapes stepped back. The monumental vertical arrangement of a rectangular shape with pierced hole recalls Hepworth's 6 ft (1.8 m) high carving Monumental Stela (BH 82) made in 1936 from blue Ancaster stone, but damaged by shrapnel in the Second World War and now destroyed. The bronze monolith shares the large scale of her public commissions from the early 1960s, such as Meridian (BH 250) of 1958-60, Winged Figure (BH 315) of 1962-63, and Single Form (BH 325) of 1961-4. It was followed by similar flat geometric forms, such as Four-Square (Walk Through) (BH 433) of 1966 and Two Forms (Divided Circle) of 1969. Hepworth also designed a 12.5 in (32 cm) high bronze Maquette for monolith in 1963, cast in an edition of 9+1 (nine casts and an artist's copy).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Squares with Two Circles” is sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, 1963-1964, in the sculpture garden of the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Netherlands. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Squares, Circles and sculpture, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “sculpture by Barbara Hepworth, 1963-1964, in the sculpture garden of the Kröller-Müller Museum, the Netherlands” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 4, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q99203696. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1963, 1964, 1936 and 1958.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Squares with Two Circles” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.