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How to stare at the Sun, through art

Seven artworks use the Sun to talk of time, the Earth, the act of seeing and industrial civilisation

Midnight Sun, 1940 by Eric Ravilious
Photograph: Alamy

CHILDREN—and eclipse-watchers—are warned not to stare directly at the Sun. Ignore that advice and the result may be burnt retinas and partial blindness. Yet an urge persists to somehow see the source of the light by which once all things were seen. Central to the world but always moving in the sky, bringing days into being and governing the cycles of the year—it is hard not to see the fascination, even if you sensibly avert your eyes.

From the June 22nd 2024 edition

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