Musée Marmottan-Monet

“It is the king star, natural and mysterious, the ultimate star, mythical, enigmatic and romantic, venerated from time immemorial, it amazes, radiates, warms, burns and always fascinates. Facing the sun, let yourself be dazzled.” Musée Marmottan Monet on their new exhibition.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of 'Impression, soleil levant' (Impression, Sunrise) the Musée Marmottan Monet, with the Museum Barberini, will host the exhibition “Facing the Sun”. Through a unique ensemble of drawings, paintings, photographs, and measuring instruments from the Paris Observatory, they illustrate the developments in astronomy over the centuries, in resonance with the evolution of landscape and atmospheric painting.

Along multiple artistic revolutions, the chapter dedicated to Einstein’s theory of general relativity circa 1920, unveils four pieces that the Nahmad Collection lent for the occasion, which are three Calder’s and one of Miró’s famous work for Constellations.

Indeed at this time we established that the universe was in perpetual expansion, and disrupted this artistic confrontation with the sun, leading to the poetic constellations of Miró and the stabiles by Calder.

‘The simplest forms in the universe are the sphere and the circle, I represent them by discs and then I vary them. My whole theory about art is the disparity that exists between form, masses and movement’ – Alexander Calder

While the American produced pieces reflecting on spaces, movement and the nature of a sculpture, he took a leaf out of the page of his lifetime spanish friend to implement few but striking colors into his works. 

Indeed, only few colors are applied on ‘Femme et oiseaux’, the eighth of twenty-three works from Miró’s masterpiece series Constellations. They were exhibited at Pierre Matisse's gallery in January-February 1945. The event caused a sensation in New York art circles and was universally praised.

'Femme et oiseaux' is a mesmerising example of the artist's celebrated lyricism and freedom of expression. We can see the bold reds and ultramarine blues, along with flickers of yellow and white comets, electrify the surface of the paper, while the great black voids add a spatial depth to the picture plane. Much like his earlier dream-inspired works, unrelated forms join together in frenzied activity to create this united cosmic vision.