June 14, 2014

Eyeing Us

Konstantin Bogaevsky, "Memories of Mantegna," 1910 image of painting from " rel="nofollow Priscilla Frank in The Huffington Post

The Moon is inspiring. For us who observe with telescopes it is a wondrous sight to behold every day and night that we catch it. But it has also inspired painters, including the Russian " rel="nofollow Bogaevsky, who created today's LPOD in 1910. This is one of twenty that a writer brought together for a story on Moon paintings. In this painting the Full Moon's effect is magnified by a vast series of halos, and clouds that arch over it like an eyebrow. It almost seems ominous, but the lack of people in the scene reduces that aspect; in fact, even the idea of a big creature overlooking all is weakened by the lack of people. Is everyone hiding inside? (If the eyeball is this big the whole creature must be a giant.) Perhaps it is just reciprocating our interest, staring down at us as we point our telescopes towards it.

" rel="nofollow Chuck Wood

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