Subtle or grandiose, the cloud is a manifestation of the cycle of life. An inexhaustible natural spectacle, forever renewing itself and always differently, it is an eternal object of fascination. It brings together all the attributes of wonder: its intangibility, its metamorphosis and its very weightlessness. The mere sight of invites the imagination to take flight, letting us defy gravity. A natural phenomenon made up of paradoxes, a combination of opposites and extremes (mass, transparency, opacity, vapour, shape-shifting, profusion), the cloud features in all cultures as the extraordinary made manifest. It is eternally linked with the infinite: it is a metaphysical object par excellence. But in art, poetry, philosophy or nimbology, in reality as in dreams, the cloud is the most human of heavenly bodies. An extraordinary contradiction in terms, it is both physical and immaterial - a fact echoed so well in the French language,with verbs such as nimber and cumuler, or even .... obnubiler. The cloud is a messenger between sky and earth.
