The focus of the essay is the interperetation of the first important sculpture of Zbyněk Sekal (1923-1998), which was created in 1955 under the name The Closed Eyes. This sculpture is introduced in the Sekal's theme of the inner exil, but in the same time into the larger context of the Czech art of the 1950's and a symbolist context in the line of the work of Odilon Redon, Constantin Brancusi or Paul Klee.