The Moon's Enduring Fascination in Modern and Contemporary Art
The moon and space exploration have profoundly influenced modern and contemporary art, from early 20th-century avant-garde movements to today's immersive installations. The article traces this relationship through key moments: the Futurists' faith in technology, the impact of Einstein's relativity on abstract artists like Mondrian, Klee, and Kandinsky, and Marcel Duchamp's debt to physicist Henri Poincaré. Post-Hiroshima, the Movimento Arte Nucleare (Enrico Baj, Sergio Dangelo) and Salvador Dalí's Nuclear Mysticism reflected atomic anxiety. Lucio Fontana's Spatialist manifestos and his 1969 statement on the Apollo missions linked his cuts to cosmic infinity. Italian artists Giulio Turcato (Superfici Lunari, 1965), Fabio Mauri (installation Luna, 1968), and Eliseo Mattiacci (Alta tensione astronomica, 1984) engaged directly with lunar and cosmic themes. In the US, NASA commissioned artists like Robert Rauschenberg, who created the Stoned Moon series after witnessing Apollo 11's launch, and Andy Warhol produced Moonwalk. Contemporary artists Luke Jerram (Museum of the Moon, 2016) and Olafur Eliasson (The Weather Project, 2003) continue this tradition, merging art with science to explore perception and human connection.
Key facts
- The article discusses the moon's influence on art from the Renaissance to today.
- Futurism embraced technology and progress as core tenets.
- Einstein's theory of relativity helped break from Newtonian physics in art.
- Mondrian, Klee, and Kandinsky used abstraction influenced by quantum physics and Neoplatonism.
- Marcel Duchamp was influenced by physicist Henri Poincaré.
- The Movimento Arte Nucleare was founded by Enrico Baj and Sergio Dangelo after Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- Salvador Dalí entered a period of Nuclear Mysticism after atomic explosions.
- Lucio Fontana published the Manifesto dello Spazialismo in 1948 in Milan.
- Fontana's Concetti spaziali series used cuts to evoke cosmic infinity.
- Fontana stated in 1969: 'The discovery of the Cosmos is a new dimension, it is the Infinite; so I pierce this canvas...'
- Giulio Turcato began his Superfici Lunari series in 1965.
- Fabio Mauri created the installation Luna in Rome in 1968.
- Eliseo Mattiacci's Alta tensione astronomica was installed at Kunstforum Munich in June 1984.
- NASA commissioned artists to document the Apollo program, providing materials.
- Robert Rauschenberg attended the Apollo 11 launch in 1969 and created the Stoned Moon series (34 lithographs).
- Andy Warhol created Moonwalk, linking consumer society and space science.
- Luke Jerram's Museum of the Moon (2016) is a 7-meter-diameter inflatable moon with NASA imagery.
- Olafur Eliasson's The Weather Project (2003) at Tate Modern's Turbine Hall used a giant sun sculpture.
- The article is written by Giovanna Batolo for Artribune.
- The article was published in 2021.
Entities
Artists
- Piet Mondrian
- Paul Klee
- Wassily Kandinsky
- Marcel Duchamp
- Henri Poincaré
- Enrico Baj
- Sergio Dangelo
- Salvador Dalí
- Lucio Fontana
- Giulio Turcato
- Fabio Mauri
- Maurizio Calvesi
- Eliseo Mattiacci
- Robert Rauschenberg
- Andy Warhol
- Luke Jerram
- Olafur Eliasson
- Giovanna Batolo
Institutions
- NASA
- Kunstforum München
- Tate Modern
- Palazzo delle Esposizioni
- Artribune
Locations
- Milan
- Italy
- Rome
- Munich
- Germany
- Cape Canaveral
- United States
- London
- United Kingdom
- Hiroshima
- Nagasaki
- Japan