Timeless art stays relevant and moving as the years pass, but that doesn’t mean the art isn’t also timely in what it reflects culturally or politically from that time. In the case of Edvard Munch. his work will not only be appreciated for his raw and emotional perspective, but also for his memorable skies, which have given a glimpse into the past to two admirers. Don Olson and Russell Doescher, researchers from the Teas State University-San Marcos physics department, have been studying Munch’s skies since 2003, combining art history with forensic astronomy to find out what was going on in those skies when Munch was painting. Starting with his most recognized work, “The Scream”, they deduced that the reds and oranges of the sky were from the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, a volcano across the world in Indonesia so powerful, it tinted the skies red in most of Europe. Later, Oldsen and Doescher focused on his painting “Girls on the Pier”, and found that what was thought to be the Sun was actually the Moon.
For their latest work, Olson and Doescher, started with Munch’s “Starry Night”, and soon included two other paintings- “The Storm” and “Sunrise in Asgardstrand”. All three paintings were done in 1893, a year with some confusion as to where Munch spent his time. It was unclear if and when he left Germany at all that year to visit his summer home in Asgardstrand, Norway. Different biographies have different opinions on the chronology of the painter’s life that year, but apparently the stars don’t lie. Jumping off of a date found in Jens Thiis’s memoirs that puts him and Munch in Asgardstrand together on August 17th, 1893, the astronomers studied the celebrial objects in each of the three paintings, and even traveled to Norway to track down the sites of the paintings. Their findings confirmed that all three painters were done in Norway within a one-month period.
A bright star in “Starry Night” was determined to be Jupiter, debunking the earlier thought that it was Venus, which wouldn’t hae been visible at that time of year. And the verticle white line, which was thought to be a reflection of the Moon, proved to be a flag pole when the astronomers dug up antique photos. Studying “The Storm” involved looking through Norwegian weather records to see what possible storms the painting was depicting. An August 19th thunderstorm that hit Asgardstrand was unusually strong and correlates with the mention of the storm in Thiis’ memoir. Thiis’ recording also mentions the hotel at which Munch painted, allowing the astronomers to identify the single star in the painting as Arcturus. Finally, the location of “Sunrise in Asgardstrand” might seem aparent, but as any good scientist or artist knows, the fun is in the details. Analysing the position of the rising sun and the reflection of the sun on the water, it was dertermined that the 2 times of the year Munch could have seen the sun rising at that specific position was two weeks into April or in the first five days of September. Since Munch is documented as being in Germany in April of 1893, and the early September option fits with the timing of his two other positions, it can be confirmed that Munch did spend time in Norway in late summer 1983.
The science detective work may not change anything about the art work nor about archaic astronomy, and yet a peek into the world Munch was experiencing while creating some of his most famous works gives a different level of understanding when thinking about his work. At a time when internet and cell phones didn’t exist and the world was much more sanctioned, the eruption of a major volcano inspired a painter on the other side of the planet to create one of the most iconic and recognizable paintings. As far as nature goes, globalization is nothing new.
Olson and Doescher’s research into their favorite artist will be published this month, August 2009, in the Griffith Observer magazine as well as in a Norwegian magazine called Astronomi. The research team also included Texas State Honors Students Joseph Herbert, Robert Newton, and Ava Pope.
