Art and Alchemy: The Mystery of Transformation

The idea of transforming stones into silver, common copper into gold, has captured the popular imagination for centuries. At its peak in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, alchemy, the ?royal art,” served as both a catalyst for developments in the nascent chemistry of the day and a framework for making sense of this rapidly changing science. Throughout history, alchemists have also been seen as practitioners of an arcane spiritual act symbolizing the cleansing of the human soul. These shifting interpretations that straddle science and art have made alchemy a particularly fruitful subject for artists, from the renowned painters of the High Renaissance to contemporary artists like Sigmar Polke and Anish Kapoor. Lavishly illustrated, Art and Alchemy accompanies an exhibition of the same name at the Museum Kunstpalast in Dusseldorf that brings together historical texts and