The sun, a symbol of power, beauty and joy since Antiquity, was first associated with gods such as Râ, Helios, Phebus and Apollo before becoming an emblem of power of king Louis XIV. The star is also central in the landscapes painted over the centuries by masters such as Albrecht Dürer, Luca Giordano, Le Lorrain, Caspar David Friedrich, Mallord William Turner, Camille Pissaro, Paul Signac, Otto Freundlich, Sonia Delaunay, Alexandre Calder and Gérard Fromanger. 

In Face au soleil. Un astre dans les arts, this art historical heritage dialogues with discoveries in the fields of astronomy and, from the 1880’s, astrophysics. A rare ensemble of drawings, paintings, photographs and measuring instruments from the Paris Observatory illustrates scientific advances and their influence on depictions of the sun. Heliocentricism, Michel Eugène Chevreul’s colour theory, and Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity all influenced art history, allowing the sun to increasingly invade the pictorial plan. 

For this exhibition, the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art loans pieces from two of its collections: ancient Egyptian archaeology and Fine Arts.