The human figure is one of the themes that most interests Jaume Plensa. Considered as a field of both formal and psychological exploration, it can be found throughout the artist’s work. Cap blanc and Cap are two of his earliest works, executed in 1983–84 when he had already begun working in the foundry with metals such as iron, bronze and copper. These investigations into the human figure, alongside zoomorphic forms and other explorations, formed the focus of his work.

Using cuts, folds and deformations that, at a formal level, create the effect of marked contrasts and a certain primitivism, Plensa was already exploring the ideas of empty and full that he went on to develop over the years. Although his forms will gradually become rounder and his materials smoother, in his earlier heads we find a continuous process of construction and destruction, identifying the artist as one of the precursors of Neo-Expressionism in Spain.