The four elements - water, earth, fire/light and air - were, for many ancient doctrines, the constituents of matter and explained the behavior of theworld, to which is added the fifth Aristotelian element: quintessence or ether or vacuum. Each element has its own laws and each one exists indifferent proportions within the other. They are added, mixed, creating the universe, a system that is defined by its variety and heterogeneity.The artist Cris Bartual has collected evocative and tangible manifestations of the elements, creating a compendium of natural phenomena and matter,presented here in an edition that restores their dynamism and complementarity.