Art Born in the Hive: Nefertiti Reconstructed by 60,000 Bees

Tomáš Libertíny, a Slovak artist based in Rotterdam (b. 1979), translates art’s most iconic forms through an unlikely alliance: sculptures in beeswax, built by tens of thousands of bees working in concert. His most recent work, “Eternity”, is a natural reinterpretation — in wax and honeycomb — of the celebrated bust of Nefertiti. The hive required two years to complete the piece, which was finished in 2020 and presented at Galerie Rademakers in Amsterdam.

Why this fusion of bees and art?

Libertíny invites 60,000 bees to build around a 3D-printed skeleton of the bust — much as a bonsai is coaxed into form, guided gradually toward a result that is always a surprise. The dual nature of wax — ephemeral yet potentially eternal — reinforces his conviction that nature is capable of producing art as timeless as anything wrought by human hands.

More sculptures, same strategy

The “Made by Bees” series also includes:

• “Brutus”: a Roman head forged in honeycomb and set atop a Coca‑Cola crate — a tribute to Marcel Duchamp’s readymades, and a meditation on the fragility of modern power.
• “The Honeycomb Amphora”: a recreation of a Greek amphora — in the Nolan style — carved over months by bees on a pedestal of recycled hive frames.

In 2025, the work is present in permanent collections including Museum Kranenburgh (Bergen, November 2025) and The Israel Museum in Jerusalem, alongside exhibitions in Rome, Milan, and Seoul.

Libertíny commands a singular niche in contemporary art — the territory of bio-artistic collaboration. Works such as “Eternity” have been acquired by private collectors; in a market where a lasting installation can command six figures, a single piece not infrequently generates between $200,000 and $500,000 USD, particularly when exhibitions, publications, and residencies are factored in.