Mercury Passing Before the Sun

Mercury Passing Before the Sun
Italian: Mercurio transita davanti al sole
Mercury Passing Before the Sun (Mercurio transita davanti al sole; 1914), Giacomo Balla
Version in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection
ArtistGiacomo Balla
Year1914 (1914)
Typeoil painting
MediumTempera on paper lined with canvas
SubjectTransit of the planet Mercury across the face of the Sun, November 17, 1914
Dimensions120 cm × 100 cm (47 in × 39 in)[1]
LocationPeggy Guggenheim Collection (on long-term loan), Venice

Mercury Passing Before the Sun (Italian: Mercurio transita davanti al sole or Mercurio (che) passa davanti al sole) is the title of a series of paintings by Italian Futurist painter Giacomo Balla, depicting the November 17, 1914, transit of Mercury across the face of the Sun.

Balla, an amateur astronomer, observed the transit through a telescope likely outfitted with a smoked glass filter.[1] His composition, according to daughter Elica Balla,[2] depicts two intersecting views of the event, through the telescope and with the naked eye.[3] Green and white triangles in the painting represent glare and other optical effects observed by Balla.[4] In several versions of the painting, overlapping spirals, suggestive of the telescope body,[5] emanate from the golden-orange orb of the magnified and filtered Sun; these encounter the brilliant white star in the upper left—the Sun as seen with the naked eye.[3]

The painting represents Balla's subjective experience of the event.[3] It exemplifies his transition to a more abstract style, as well as his interest in themes of cosmogony;[1] he uses the opacity of gouache to suggest a dense fusion of cosmic forces.[3] During this period, Balla had begun to experiment with the use of geometric and curving forms and transparent planes to convey movement.[4] Mercury Passing Before the Sun translates the temporal progression of Mercury's transition into a spatial progression, using methods devised by the Cubists.[5]

  1. ^ a b c Palmieri, Jessica (June 5, 2012). "(Possibly) The most important painting of a planetary transit ever". Italian Futurism. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  2. ^ Echaurren, Pablo (October 29, 2012). "Lo scandalo di casa Balla". Huffington Post (in Italian). Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  3. ^ a b c d Poggi, Christine. "Giacomo Balla: Studio per "Mercurio che passa davanti al sole visto dal cannocchiale"". Sotheby's. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference PGC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b "Mercurio passa davanti al sole visto nel cannocchiale". Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien. Retrieved 7 September 2016.