AMONG ATOMS

The concept of empty space appears in many ancient philosophies from all over the world. The one that has had the most influence in the development of Western science is probably the theory of atomism promoted by Greek philosophers like Leucippus, Democritus, and Epicurus. Thanks to them, the idea coalesced in the collective imagination that things are only solid in appearance, since they are actually made up of countless indivisible particles or atoms separated from each other by empty space. Breaking with the chronological groupings in the first three galleries of the show, this gallery presents works by artists from several generations assembled around the theme of atomization, the expansion of matter, the interstitial, and the minuscule.