<exchanging gazes> 11: Art and science

Since the Renaissance numerous painters have looked to science in order to understand their daily reality, to acquire skill in the exercise of perspective and colour, or as a stimulus to the development of their particular artistic sensibility. The ten paintings from the Thyssen-Bornemisza collections selected for inclusion in the latest exhibition in the <exchanging gazes> series illustrate different aspects of the relationship between art and science over the centuries.

The first group reflects 19^th-century American landscape painters’ interest in the natural sciences; the second focuses on the impact that scientific theories on colour had on late 19^th and early 20^th-century painters in Paris; and the third and final group includes examples of works in which avant-garde artists set out to create spatial dimensions based on modern geometrical theories. Preceding these images, the display opens with a painting of a library, symbolising wisdom and knowledge.

The exhibition takes place on the first floor Balcony Gallery with free, direct access from the Main Hall.