This collection consists of realistic depictions of photographed places in the universe. At first glance, these astronomical bodies seem abstract, surreal, dreamlike. After a while, we understand that the universe is full or colour, force, vitality. The far-too-familiar cycle of birth and death emerges. A reminder that we are a tiny part of that universe.
The inspiration for the Cosmos Collection were NASA’s and ESA’s high definition pictures. The ever-better images are allowing us to zoom in and admire the beauty of the universe at that grandiose scale. As an artist, I am reacting to that beauty.
The paintings are photographed both in daylight and at night-time lit with blue light.
Veil Nebula
Acrylic on canvas, 50 cm x 70 cm — 2021
1,470 million lightyears from earth. Heated and ionized gas from the supernova remnant, Cygnus Loop, produced by a star that was 20 times the size of the sun.
€1,000
Star Cluster NGC 602
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 40 cm — 2021
200,000 lightyears from earth. The star cluster NGC 602 lies in the outskirts of the Small Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy orbiting the Milky Way.
€500
Messier 81
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 50 cm — 2021
12 million lightyears from earth. Also known as Bode’s Galaxy, this spiral galaxy is located in the constellation Ursa Major. Its light can be observed with a consumer telescope.
€600
Colliding Antennae Galaxies NGC 4038 & NGC 4037
Acrylic on canvas, 100 cm x 100 cm — 2021
45 million lightyears from earth. Colliding Antennae Galaxies NGC 4038 and 4039. The collision deformed the galaxies, leaving trails of matter behind.
€3,500
Tadpole Galaxy
Acrylic on canvas, 120 cm x 200 cm — 2021
420 million lightyears from earth. The tail was created by a “hit and run” collision with a smaller, compact galaxy which is fleeing the scene. The tail will eventually fade away.
€5,000
Stellar Birth RCW 108
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 40 cm — 2021
4,000 lightyears from earth. This region in the Milky Way is a fertile ground for star formations. The cluster of young stars are embedded in a cloud of molecular hydrogen.
€500
Whirlpool Galaxy
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 50 cm — 2021
31 million lightyears from earth. M51a, the first galaxy to be classified as a spiral galaxy, interacts with a smaller galaxy, M51b.
€700
Solar Flares
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 40 cm — 2022
Solar flares are intense eruptions of electromagnetic radiation in the Sun’s atmosphere. Their intensity varies in an 11-year cycle.
€500
Stellar Nursery AFGL 5180
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 40 cm — 2022
5,000 million lightyears from earth. Star-forming cloud in the constellation of Gemini. In the middle, a massive star is forming and blasting powerful jets of radiation.
€500
Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 50 cm — 2021
60 million lightyears from earth. Galaxies with a bar across the centre are not uncommon. The bar consists of clusters of young stars, nebulae and dust lanes (the dark filaments).
€300
Merging Galaxies
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 60 cm — 2021
230 million lightyears from earth. Two galaxies merge, each one has a pair of quasars (massive black holes) in its nucleus (J0841+4825 and J0749+2255).
SOLD
Butterfly Nebula NGC6302
Acrylic on canvas, 40 cm x 40 cm — 2021
3,392 million lightyears from earth. The planetary nebula NGC 6302 is produced by a white dwarf star that emits ionised gas and dust.
SOLD