The artist who made the prominent silver balls displayed in Adelaide's Rundle Mall, Bert Flugelman, has died.

He was 90 and died, surrounded by friends and family, at his home at Bowral in the New South Wales southern highlands.

Flugelman was head of sculpture at the South Australian School of Art in the 1970s and 80s, then moved to the University of Wollongong.

The balls sculpture, officially called The Spheres, is four metres high and is two large stainless steel spheres, one one on top of the other.

It went on display in Adelaide's city shopping district in 1977.

The artwork was commissioned by the then-Hindmarsh Building Society and donated to the city to mark its centenary.

The balls are not without their critics but have become a common meeting place for people in the Mall.

Under a current Mall upgrade, there are plans to move the sculpture.

Flugelman was born in Austria and came to Australia as a teenager.

He is also known for other silver sculptures including Slow Spiral, on display in Brisbane, Cones in the sculpture garden of the National Gallery in Canberra and Pyramid Tower in Sydney, known by many as the silver shish kebab.

Another of his works Tetrahedra is on the plaza of Adelaide's Festival Centre.