LONDON.- This summer, Saatchi Gallery presents The Sun and The Moon: Art Inspired by the Celestial, a major exhibition exploring how the two most powerful and enduring phenomena in the sky have inspired creativity, curiosity and belief throughout human history and across different cultures. Supported by headline sponsor Cazenove Capital, the exhibition opened to the public on 5 June and runs until 8 September.
Occupying two floors of the Gallery and spanning nine major exhibition spaces, the show presents artworks, installations, and objects that reveal how artists have responded to the Sun and the Moon. From ancient mythologies and early cosmologies to contemporary art and popular culture, the exhibition explores the profound influence these celestial bodies continue to have on human imagination.
This exhibition follows the immensely popular FLOWERS – Flora in Contemporary Art and Culture as the second in Saatchi Galley’s series surveying how the natural world inspires creativity across artistic disciplines. Drawing on themes connected to the patterns of nature, The Sun and The Moon invites visitors to consider familiar symbols in unexpected ways.
The exhibition unfolds as a journey through a complete 24-hour cycle, moving from dawn through daylight and then into the depths of the night. Each gallery reflects on a period of the day and explores different stories associated with the Sun and the Moon. Themes explored include mythology, ritual, timekeeping lunar exploration and spirituality, revealing how these celestial bodies shape our daily lives and culture.
Works by Patrick Caulfield, Barbara Hepworth and Sinta Tantra introduce the exhibition before the journey begins at Dawn, which includes works exploring how early cultures rationalised the Sun and Moon as deities and cosmic forces. These celestial bodies were woven into myths and belief systems as symbols of power, presented here through historical artefacts ranging from the Sol Invictus Celtic Bust dated between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD, to a faithful replica of the Nebra Sky Disc, alongside works by contemporary emerging artists such as Sunju Jin, Jai Khanna and Lian Zhang.
The second room, The Sun Rising, then reflects on how the sun structures our sense of time and rhythm, shaping the cycles of seasons, agriculture and everyday ritual. At its centre is Darcey Fleming’s Totem — a sculpture crafted from baling twine previously used by farmers, and referencing traditional celebrations connected to the land — presented amongst works by John Titchell, Sigrid Holmwood, Zak Ové and Sky Glabush.
At the height of the day, Zenith considers our bodies’ relationship with the sun, exploring our fascination with sunlight, warmth, the rituals of sunbathing and summer culture. Works by Hannah Frank, Dindga McCannon, Otto Piene, Sam Riley, Jim Lambie and Yinka Ilori appear alongside vintage travel posters and fashion objects including swimsuits, fans and eyewear. At its centre, Bryony Ella’s My Body is a Sundial invites visitors to consider the body not only as a record of solar time but also as a focus of solar intensity. Layers of embodied paintings are suspended between transparent panes held within a metal frame, ‘encasing memories of summers past and present’.
Setting Sun captures the emotional symbolism of a retreating sun, as artists explore themes of beauty, transformation and reflection through landscapes, symbolic imagery, and references to alchemy and astrology. Works by Michael Rothenstein and Peter Doig are presented alongside first edition tarot cards designed by Pamela Colman Smith in 1909. A key feature is Nancy Holt’s 1978 film Sun Tunnels, a twenty-six-minute work documenting the creation of Holt’s eponymous earthwork in the Great Basin Desert, Utah. The installation consists of four concrete cylinders arranged in an X formation across the landscape, each 18 feet long and 9 feet in diameter, perforated with constellations of small apertures that project patterns of light within the tunnels.
At the centre of the exhibition visitors encounter Helios, a monumental six-metre sculpture of the Sun by artist Luke Jerram. The internally illuminated spherical installation features detailed imagery of the Sun’s surface compiled from photographs by astrophotographer Dr Stuart Green and NASA observations, with guidance from solar scientist Professor Lucie Green of University College London. Presented at an approximate scale of 1:230 million – where each centimetre represents around 2,300 kilometres of the Sun’s surface – the work allows visitors to safely experience the extraordinary texture of our nearest star, revealing sunspots, spicules and vast solar filaments in remarkable detail.
Combining solar imagery, subtle lighting and an immersive sound composition by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson, Helios offers a powerful encounter with the celestial body that sustains life on Earth while reflecting on the Sun’s enduring presence in culture, mythology, and human imagination.
The second half of the exhibition commences with a transition into night. Evening switches our attention to the Moon and its role in science and imagination, exploring its phases, its observation through history and its enduring presence in literature, photography, and science fiction. This chapter includes works by Paul Nash, Dora Maar, Ellie Davies and Christopher Le Brun. Saad Qureshi’s large-scale split moon will be suspended from the ceiling.
The following gallery, Walking on the Moon, reflects on humanity’s obsession with reaching the moon and what might be found there. The presentation of works focuses on the cultural impact of the Apollo missions and the lesser-known stories behind space exploration, including the contributions of craftswomen and designers who helped make the missions possible. At its centre is Moon Landing, a collaborative work by Margo Selby and composer Helen Caddick, combining an original score with a large textile installation. The work celebrates the technical possibilities of weaving and the shared languages of mathematics, colour and rhythm found in both music and textiles. The gallery also features work by Aleksandra Mir, alongside the complete Lunar Voyage woodcut series by Tom Hammick.
The penultimate chapter, Midnight, delves into the Moon’s long association with folklore, magic, and dreams, exploring themes of myth, mysticism and the ‘witching hour’, featuring works by Paula Rego, George Wallace Jardine, Joseph Wright of Derby, Joan Miró and Marguerite Carnec.
The exhibition concludes with the Darkest Hours chapter, featuring both Massless Suns and Dark Suns and Massless Sun and Surface of the Sky by the internationally renowned collective teamLab. These immersive works present spheres of light and darkness that appear to take form in space, yet have no physical substance. Shaped by light, environment and perception, they invite reflection on the nature of existence.
