An A to Z Guide to the Moon
A personal, idiosyncratic trip to our only natural satellite
A
Apollo Missions, Apollo, Art
The Apollo missions of the sixties sought to conquer one of the enduring mysteries of our skies. And of our closet celestial ally – the moon. But, of course, despite the evidence from those days of a few lonely footprints on its ancient lunar service, it will always remain inscrutably moonish, always unconquerable. During those brief heady moments humankind were merely allowed a pass.
It is no more conquerable than the Greek god whose name inspired those heroic missions into the vast unknown – the bisexual Apollo, god of practically everything – not just the sun, that was also Helios.
It is no more mysterious than the art of Van Gogh whose painting, The Starry Night, was partly inspired by its eminent lunar presence. Following the self-mutilation of his ear, Van Gogh admitted himself to Saint-Paul-de-Mausole lunatic asylum where he painted the picture. His stylised representation of the moon and the village under it’s eerie luminosity is, perhaps a recognition of his own subjugation to the lunar…
