Matte painting study for the film Destination Moon
On loan to The Met
This work of art is currently on loan to the museum.Bonestell was a pioneering artist whose vivid astronomical images helped sway public opinion in favor of human spaceflight. In addition to illustrating books and magazines, he worked in Hollywood as a special-effects artist and matte painter. This is a study for a fourteen-foot-long painting of the lunar crater Harpalus that appears as a background in the science-fiction film Destination Moon (1950). A clip from the film can be seen on the video monitor in this gallery.
Artwork Details
- Title: Matte painting study for the film Destination Moon
- Artist: Chesley Bonestell (American, San Fransisco 1888–1986 Carmel-by-the-Sea, California)
- Date: 1949
- Medium: Gouache, oil, and graphite on panel
- Dimensions: 19 × 72 in. (48.3 × 182.9 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Randy and Yulia G. Liebermann Lunar and Planetary Exploration Collection
- Curatorial Department: Photographs