48 ASTRONOMY • APRIL 2019
To artists inspired by what they
see in nature, volcanic sunsets
are the holy grail of light and
color. They transform placid sun-
sets and post-twilight glows into
vibrant bloodbaths of spectral
radiance. Yet, I’m not writing
this to hang on the wall another
volcanically inspired sunset
painting for us to ponder. Rather,I want to introduce to observ-
ers a subtle and little-known
daytime phenomenon linked to
volcanic activity. It may have,
in part, inspired 19th-century
post-Impressionist French artist
Georges Seurat (1859–1891) in his
attempt to reform Impressionism
and illuminate the world with a
new form of art: his own versionof optical blending of color,
called Pointillism.The sky as art
A number of 19th-century art-
ists re-created volcanic sunsets
in their paintings. Most touted
are the works of English land-
scape pioneer William S. Turner,
who spent a year painting the