Curtain of the Sun, designed by John Coburn

The archives shine a light on unseen parts of the building, as we see here with the ‘Curtain of the Sun’ on display in the Opera Theatre. When Peter Hall took over as lead architect, he ensured that the interior designs carried on Utzon’s original vision to have colour building anticipation for performances. Hall commissioned Australian artist John Coburn to design curtains for the Opera Theatre (now the Joan Sutherland Theatre) and the Drama Theatre. In the 1980s, these curtains were decommissioned and moved to storage, where continued preservation makes it possible for them to be shown again on site.