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Air pollution

Painting a picture of pollution

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 4, page 433 (2023)Cite this article

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The styles of artists such as Monet and Turner evolved throughout the 19th century from figurative to impressionistic. These changes coincided with increases in aerosol emissions driven by the Industrial Revolution. However, it is unclear whether these paintings could provide a historical record of the optical and physical changes caused by atmospheric pollution.

There are no direct quantitative measurements of air pollution throughout early industrialization; therefore, artwork could provide valuable insight into pollution trends throughout this period. However, before such approaches can be used to calculate atmospheric changes, it is important to consider whether some artists chose to paint when aerosol concentrations were high, suggesting that their art could provide a record of above-average pollution levels. Nevertheless, by highlighting how artists use environmental change as a creative stimulus, these findings provide an additional angle by which to study and appreciate artwork.

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References

Original article

  • Albright, A. L. et al. Paintings by Turner and Monet depict trends in 19th century air pollution. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2219118120 (2023)

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  1. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment https://www.nature.com/natrevearthenviron

    Hannah Hatcher

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  1. Hannah Hatcher
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Correspondence to Hannah Hatcher.

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Hatcher, H. Painting a picture of pollution. Nat Rev Earth Environ 4, 433 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00461-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-023-00461-6

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