Watching the PBS Newshour last night, I was struck by a follow-up interview after coverage of Iceland’s volcano eruption where Jeffrey Brown spoke with Simon Winchester, author of “Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded.” (view the video here) Among other interesting facts about the many ways that massive eruption in 1883 affected mankind, he said the intense and lovely sunsets it created resulted in some very interesting art. William Ashcroft of England sat by the River Thames and painted one sunset after another, one every 10 minutes, until he had about 500 of them! Almost like creating animation cells or time-lapse photography, the sequence, now on display at the Natural History Museum in London, shows the incredible colors and their movement across the sky at that time.
Volcanic Skies over Brielle, Netherlands, captured by Dennis Put, Apr. 14, 2010
As it turns out, Edvard Munch said “The Scream” was