Invisible Sun features works that resonate with this unprecedented period of rupture and unrest. The exhibition’s title is taken from Julie Mehretu’s painting Invisible Sun (algorithm 8, fable form) (2015). While not created in response to these specific events, works on view speak to profound transitions both personal and global and form an appeal for healing.

Artists included respond to issues such as the AIDS crisis, gender- and race-based violence, unchecked capitalism, and colonialism’s aftermath. They collectively grapple with revolution and change, loss, and recovery, and how the freedoms and prosperity of powerful countries come at the expense of others. The exhibition intends to be a site for reflection, education, and dialogue towards confronting current issues and offering space for contemplating a more just world.  ​

Artists featured include El Anatsui, Alexander Calder, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Julie Mehretu, Nathaniel Mary Quinn, Cindy Sherman, and many others in the Broad collection. The exhibition offers galleries focusing on the work of a single artist or thematic groupings that reflect larger webs of influence. In total, the show features 59 works in the Broad collection. Twenty-four artworks are on view for the first time at the museum, and 16 have been acquired since the museum opened.