The Bassin d'Apollon marks the end of the garden's main axis, about halfway between the palace and the Grand Canal. The centrepiece is a gilded lead sculpture group by Jean-Baptiste Tuby (1670), showing Apollo — the Sun God — driving his four horses out of the water at dawn, surrounded by sea monsters and tritons. The identification with Louis XIV, the Sun King, was explicit and intended.
When the fountains are running, jets of water arch over the horses from all sides, and the scene becomes animated in a way that flat photographs don't capture. The basin is the largest fountain in the gardens, and the focal point of the main perspective from the palace terrace.
Walk around the basin rather than just looking from the front — the sculpture group is designed to be seen from multiple angles, and from the canal end you get the full perspective back up through the gardens toward the palace, the whole Le Nôtre geometry revealed at once.