Bird in Space, Brancusi

This thing is so cool, even if I do not understand how this is a bird in space. 

Upon researching, I found an explanation for this sculpture that happened to be bought for $27.5 million dollars at an auction in 2005. Not bad, Brancusi, not bad. In sculpting this piece, his apparent aim was not to sculpt a bird directly, but to focus on its movements. There are no feathers or wings per say, but the direction of its movements and the elongated stretch of the body in its attempt to achieve that movement. 

Funny Story: When brought and shipped over to the United States, Customs wanted to charge a 40% duty tax on the art. There was quite a legal battle over this issue, claiming that art was not a taxable material. Time Magazine displayed its cultural ignorance by siding with the government on this case, coming out to say that this supposed sculpture wasn't a bird at all like it claimed, but a manufacturing of metal. Needless to say, Brancusi won.