Musée d'Orsay Exhibition on Abstraction's Origins Critiqued for Simplifying Art-Science Links

From November 5, 2003, to February 22, 2004, the Musée d'Orsay in Paris hosted 'Aux origines de l'abstraction 1800-1914,' curated by Pascal Rousseau and Serge Lemoine. This exhibition displayed a variety of artworks, including paintings, drawings, and watercolors, alongside scientific artifacts tied to optics, highlighting the role of 'scientific aesthetics' in the development of early abstraction. An engaging installation by Ann Veronica Janssens recreated the experience of solar vision. Critic Jacqueline Lichtenstein pointed out that the exhibition failed to consider Goethe's flawed color theory and neglected other perspectives, such as the spiritual themes presented in the 1986 LACMA exhibition 'The Spiritual in Art.' She argued against the notion of a unidirectional influence from science to art, emphasizing the impact of theosophy on artists like Kandinsky and Delaunay. The catalog features Jonathan Crary's critique of the exhibition's claims concerning Turner.