
Artwork Details
- Title
- Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset
- Artist
- Date
- 1970
- Location
- Dimensions
- 47 7⁄8 x 47 7⁄8 in. (121.6 x 121.6 cm.)
- Markings
- lower right in acrylic: AW Thomas/'70 back upper left to upper center in pen: Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset/70/48 x 48" back upper center in pen: TOP/AT-20 stretcher upper left in ballpoint pen and ink: Snoopy--Earth Wraps in Sunset stretcher upper center in felt pen: AT-20 back upper right in pen: Alma W. Thomas/70
- Credit Line
- Gift of the artist
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- acrylic on canvas
- Classifications
- Keywords
- Abstract
- Object Number
- 1978.40.4
Artwork Description
In Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset, Thomas’s reverence for the beauty of living things expands to a planetary scale. Captivated by astronauts’ accounts of seeing Earth from outer space, Thomas portrayed our planet enlivened by the reflected light of the sun.
“Snoopy” was the nickname for the Apollo 8 lunar module, a reference to the Peanuts comic strip character (who was also a NASA mascot) and the module’s job of flying around the moon to “snoop” for a promising landing site. Thomas would likely have seen the widely circulated photograph taken from “Snoopy” as it orbited the moon. Known as Earthrise, the image shows a partly illuminated, vibrant Earth as it rises above the surface of the moon.