Sonne

Sun. The Source of Light in Art

As a source of light and warmth, and thus as the origin of life, the sun has been an immediate reference point for religious and mythological concepts since the earliest documented cultures. It plays a central role in European art as a symbol or personification of divine powers, as a driving force in mythological narratives, as a mood carrier in landscape paintings, and as a basis for the intensification of color in the painting of classical modernism. This publication is dedicated to the representation of the sun from antiquity to the present. Starting with Claude Monet's legendary painting Impression, Sunrise from 1872, which gave its name to Impressionism, the iconography of sun representation is examined comprehensively and in detail for the first time, using numerous examples.