Work from the Collection

To Reconcile the Sunset

Artist: Boz Deseo Garden
Date: 2024
Materials: Wooden transport crate, Oil on mahogany, Metal hook, Tree resin, Engraved Flamex electric lighter
Dimensions: 102 x 178 x 11 cm
Collection: Lafayette anticipations - Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin
Domain: Installation
Designed to house William Turner’s painting Slave Ship (1840) at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, To Reconcile the Sunset takes the form of a mahogany case, inspired by the storage crates used for the transport and preservation of works of art. Inside, a hook shaped like an eagle’s talon threatens to tear the canvas should the painting ever be removed. The joints of the cabinet are sealed with a resin which a Flamex lighter, supplied with the work, is intended to weaken in order to allow the painting to be removed. By highlighting this impossible access, Garden stages a dilemma in which every method of access entails a risk of damage. The artist thus explores the links between destruction, circulation, and the preservation of property, echoing the property regimes of slavery. The title borrows a phrase from the art historian Marcus Wood, who noted that, within Turner’s painting, “the drowned slaves and the glorious sunset were not reconciled”.

Text written by Alessia Damioli as part of the partnership between the École du Louvre and Lafayette Anticipations – Fonds de dotation Famille Moulin.

Exhibitions

Blackground: murmures des mornes
CAPC musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux, Bordeaux (France)
from 11 Jun 2026 to 28 Mar 2027
Spectral Fine Art Trust
Final Hot Desert, Londres (Angleterre)
from 05 Oct to 23 Nov 2024
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