Curtain of the Sun

When the Opera House opened to the public on 20 October 1973, about eight years had passed since the original architect, Jørn Utzon had withdrawn from the project, following a serious disagreement with the Minister for Public Works, Davis Hughes.

One aspect of the building that had been so important to Utzon was the use of colour in the experience of visiting the Opera House. “The idea was to see a spectacular building as you arrive and as you enter the foyers you see additional colours... As you enter the Minor or Major hall this explodes into a very rich expression of colours, which uplift you in that festive mood, away from daily life, that you expect when you go to the theatre, a play, an opera or a concert.”

Whilst Utzon was unable to realise all of his ideas, the spirit of his intentions in the use of colour was captured in John Coburn’s majestic Curtain of the Sun and Curtain of the Moon.

Looking back, in 1990, Australian architect Peter Hall, who was the design architect for the interiors of the building, described the Curtain of the Sun: "A tapestry curtain was commissioned and its own lighting provided for it. This is the Curtain of the Sun, so called by its artist, John Coburn, who saw its strong warm colours as evocative of the atmosphere of opera. Woven at Aubusson, France, the curtain is a work of art in its own right. In practice, like the Curtain of the Moon, it was not always used by producers who often prefer to set their own pre-performance mood."

Both house curtains were commissioned in 1969 after Lucien Dray, the representative of the French tapestry company Pinton Frères of Aubusson, suggested that John Coburn be commissioned to design curtains for the opera and drama theatres.

Coburn was already one of Australia’s best-known modern artists when he was commissioned to design the curtains in 1969.


By then, about four years had passed since the departure of Jørn Utzon, and the Australian architect Peter Hall was immersed in designing the interiors of the building and the enclosing glass walls.

Hall was striving to find a balance between his interpretation of Utzon’s designs, changes in requirements for the building, and his own design aesthetic.

When it was suggested to Hall that Coburn be commissioned to design these house curtains, he readily agreed.

On 26 November 1969 the minister for Public Works, Davis Hughes, gave final approval to proceed with the commission of $78,000 Australian dollars.

“I remember standing right up at the back of the Opera Theatre and looking down on to the stage. I could almost see my curtain there; I knew immediately what I wanted to do... I had decided to base the Opera House curtains on Miro’s Wall of the Sun and his Wall of the moon, which are ceramic walls at UNESCO in Paris. I hadn’t even seen them at this time; I had only seen reproductions of them in books. I would do the ‘Curtain of the sun’ for the Opera Theatre and the ‘Curtain of the moon’ for the Drama Theatre. And I more or less sketched them out roughly that night when I got back to Canberra.”
John Coburn recalling his visit to the building site in 1969. (John Coburn: the Spirit of Colour, Lou Klepac, 2003).

“I thought at first that both parts of the curtain came in from the side, in from the wings and met in the centre. I thought that the join would be dead centre, but I found out later that it was not a dead centre, it was somewhat to the left so that the two sections of the curtain overlapped and the overlapping part cut through some of the rays of the sun.

"So I reversed the design, so that the sun is now on the right section of the curtain. Subsequently they found that it was not successful for the curtains to come in from the sides; they now have two sections joined together and the curtain comes down from the top.”

John Coburn, from 'John Coburn: The Spirit of Colour' by Lou Klepac, 2003.

Coburn travelled to France to oversee creation of the tapestries by celebrated Pinton Frères weavers of Aubusson and Felletin.

The weavers worked from cartoons, which are photographic enlargements of the original maquette of the design.

The cartoon is created at the full size of the finished tapestry and positioned so that the weavers see it through the cotton warp as they work.

Weaving had been practiced since the fourteenth century in the region, and after World War II artists such as Le Corbusier, Cocteau, Dali, Calder and Picasso had all had their works realised by the talented generations of craftspeople.

In late October 1958 Jørn Utzon wrote to Le Corbusier to ask if the renowned architect might create art works for the interiors of the Opera House. In the process Utzon commissioned a tapestry that for many years hung in his home in Hellebaek, Denmark.

The tapestry now hangs in the Opera House.

The tapestry that hangs in the Utzon Room was designed by the original architect of the Sydney Opera House, Jørn Utzon, after his re-engagement with the Opera House in the early 2000s. The Utzon Room is the first interior designed by Utzon and highlights his use of colour in performance spaces.

At the opening of Sydney Opera House, their sheer size, vibrant colours and striking abstract imagery were an undeniable focus of attention.

But shortly after the opening, the Curtain of the Moon had been moved into storage and it was not long before the Curtain of the Sun followed. This was in part a response to the artistic requirements of performances, and due to the damage caused to the tapestries in the live theatre environments.

In 2003, three years before his death, Coburn spoke to the Sydney Morning Herald about the disappointment he felt that his tapestries had been rarely used for their original purpose:

"I was commissioned to design something bright to offset the Opera House interiors. The problem was that the opera designers feared they would overshadow their own designs. And the fashion in theatre is not to have a curtain on the set." John Coburn, October 20, 2003.

Concern for their conservation has kept them out of the public eye, except for rare occasions such as in 2006 to mark John Coburn’s death.