Sun, reflection and color · Light as subject

From Monet's mists to the colors of Derain and Munch, the luminous paintings make the sun, reflection and chromatic vibration the true engine of the image.

Light has always shaped shapes, but modern painting makes it an autonomous subject. Monet observes in Impression, rising sun the meeting of an orange disk, a blue mist and unstable reflections; the atmosphere matters more than the outline. Cézanne builds Montagne Sainte-Victoire by tonal relationships that unite rock, sky and vegetation. With Derain, the light of London becomes a tawny color: blue, yellow and red no longer only describe the landscape, they give it its energy. Munch finally transforms the sun into a radiant, almost cosmic force, whose lines cross sea, land and gaze. These works show that clarity can be natural, optical, decorative or symbolic. The "Luminous Paintings" selection notably compares Impression, rising sun - Claude Monet and La Montagne Sainte-Victoire - Paul Cézanne. His reading favors the material.

In a luminous painting, light does not rest on things: it transforms them, connects them and sometimes becomes the main subject itself.