Art In Science

ART IN SCIENCE…

and vice versa

The contributions of science and technology to the art of painting have been incalculable. They can be seen in the composition of the stuff of painting — the paints, the papers, the canvasses — the preservation of paintings, and even where painting takes place, since it was the development of the tube that allowed painters to port their paints into the open air — a shift of venue that provided the impetus for the Impressionist movement.
 
Not content with simply accepting these munificent contributions, the painters have also seized upon Science and Technology as subjects for their works. We’ve assembled about two dozen of these works to show here. They have been divided into seven categories. You can jump to a category by clicking on a topic title; you can reach an artist by clicking on a name; or you can see everything in sequence by just scrolling down.To those of you who came to us by way of a browser search for a particular artist: you’ll find much else of interest on our site.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
 

PORTRAITS

Ilya Repin: Portrait of Mendeleyev
Albert Edelfelt: Louis Pasteur
David Martin: Benjamin Franklin
Andy Warhol: Albert Einstein
William Blake: Sir Isaac Newton [a truly ditzy portrait]
Max Ernst: Euclid [ditzier yet}

COMICS

Churchman’s cigarette ad
Maxfield Parrish: Wond’rous Wise Man
Unknown: The Scientific Simpleton

DOING SCIENCE

Gerard Dou: Astronomer by Candlelight
Henry Stacy Marks: The Great Auk’s Egg
Jan Vermeer: The Geographer
Joseph Wright: Experiment with the Air Pump
Randy Dudley: Verifying Dissonant Statistics
Rembrandt: The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp
Thomas Eakins: The Gross Clinic

THE MODERNS LOOK AT SCIENCE

Karen Kunc: Ancient Geology
Roy Lichtenstein: Peace through Chemistry
Walter Valentini: Lo Spazio, Il Tempo

SCIENCE AS MAGIC


Adraen Van Ostade: An Alchemist
Jan Steen: Village Alchemist
Bela Lugosi as Dr. Marlowe

Wood: The Alchemist’s Dilemma

AND THE GUY WHO DID IT ALL

Leonardo Da Vinci: Drawing of a woman’s torso

PORTRAITS

Portrait of Mendeleyev
Portrait of Mendeleyev

Louis Pasteur
Louis Pasteur

Benjamin Franklin

Albert Einstein

William Blake

Max Ernst

COMICS

Churchman’s Cigarette Ad

Maxfield Parrish
Wond'rous Wise Man

The Scientific Simpleton

DOING SCIENCE

Gerard Dou
Astonomer by Candlelight

Henry Stacy Marks
The Great Auk's Egg

Jan Vermeer
The Geographer

Joseph Wright
Experiment with the Air Pump

Randy Dudley
Verifying Dissonant Statistics

Rembrandt

Thomas Eakins

The Moderns Look at Science

Karen Kunc
Ancient Geology

Roy Lichtenstein
Peace through Chemistry

Walter Valentini

Science as Magic

Adraen Van Ostade
An Alchemist

Jan Steen
The Village Alchemist

Bela Lugosi as Dr. Marlowe
Bela Lugosi as Dr. Marlowe

Wood
The Alchemist's Dilemna

The Guy Who Did it All

Leonardo Da Vinci
Drawing of a Woman's Torso