Snoopy--Early Sun Display on Earth

Object Details

Artist

Alma Thomas, born Columbus, GA 1891-Washington, DC 1978

Exhibition Label

In Snoopy—Early Sun Display on Earth, Thomas’s reverence for the beauty of living things expands to a planetary scale. Captivated by astronauts’ accounts of seeing Earth from outer space, Thomas portrayed a rainbow-hued planet pulsating with light and vitality.

“Snoopy” was the nickname for the Apollo 8 lunar module, a reference to the Peanuts comic strip character (who was also a NASA mascot) and the module’s job of flying around the moon to “snoop” for a promising landing site. Thomas would likely have seen the widely circulated photograph taken from “Snoopy” as it orbited the moon. Known as Earthrise, the image shows a partly illuminated, vibrant blue Earth as it rises above the surface of the moon.

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Vincent Melzac

1970

Object number

1976.140.1

Restrictions & Rights

Usage conditions apply

Type

Painting

Medium

acrylic on canvas

Dimensions

49 7/8 x 48 1/8 in. (126.8 x 122.1 cm)

See more items in

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department

Painting and Sculpture

On View

Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2nd Floor, South Wing

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Topic

Abstract

Record ID

saam_1976.140.1

Metadata Usage (text)

Not determined

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk72c1519ff-2efb-44fb-a1e1-eb95b29316b2