I believe I’ve talked with some of you about this before, but while reading “Krakatoa” by Simon Winchester I was interested in his point about art following the eruption of Krakatoa. Specifically, he noted that a lot of the paintings around that time feature brillant sunsets and that in fact these are a record of the effect the eruption had on the atmosphere. For several years after the eruption the sky was filled with small particles that wreaked havoc on sunlight and twisted it every which way, making sunsets the likes of which we’ve never seen almost routine.
It also blew my mind that the explosion was heard over 3,000 miles away, so that means it was so loud that if it happened to Jason out in the Bay Area I would have heard it here in Atlanta. That just blows my mind. But that’s another story.
Anyway, here’s a link to a story about what role this may have played in the recently stolen painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch.
If nothing else, I really like the name “Krakatoa” for a volcano.