This sculpture by Ksenija Jaroševaitė depicts a reclining woman. At first glance, the figure appears to be realistic, but why are her legs separated from her body?

The unexpected answer is that this was dictated by the size of the stone. The sculptor was given a block too short for the entire figure, so she carved the body and legs from separate pieces of granite. Even then, the legs proved too short, and so a gap was left. This is the simple explanation behind the mystery of the detached legs.

But let us not be deceived. Artists cannot always explain why a work takes the form it does.

Perhaps what we see here is a great human weariness – a body so tired the legs could be slipped off like shoes.