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Study for A Lunar Landscape

1957
Not on view
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.
In 1956 the Boston Museum of Science commissioned Bonestell to create a ten-by-forty-foot mural of the lunar surface for the museum’s Charles Hayden Planetarium. Although the topography appears convincingly realistic, he could not resist the urge to embellish; the craggy peaks in his painting are considerably more dramatic than the moon’s rounded hills. The mural was removed from the Boston Museum in 1970 and entered the collection of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 1976.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Study for A Lunar Landscape
  • Artist: Chesley Bonestell (American, San Fransisco 1888–1986 Carmel-by-the-Sea, California)
  • Patron: Museum of Science, Boston
  • Date: 1957
  • Medium: Oil over photomontage
  • Dimensions: Image: 7 7/8 × 30 11/16 in. (20 × 78 cm)
    Frame: 13 × 35 13/16 in. (33 × 91 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Randy and Yulia G. Liebermann Lunar and Planetary Exploration Collection
    2.22
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs