This beautiful, large-format book contains high-quality reproductions of about a hundred of moon walker Alan Bean’s paintings, each capturing a moment from one of humanity’s greatest adventures. If it were just that, just a collection of images from Apollo, it would still be a fantastic book. Bean’s art combines the realism and attention to detail one would expect from a test pilot with profound expression of what it meant to him and his fellow explorers to represent mankind, to work together, to gain perspective while on the moon.

But the book offers much more than that. I have read Andrew Chaikin’s From the Earth to the Moon, and while very good, I felt the scope of covering such a monumental endeavor as Apollo in a single book was sometimes a bit much, either for Chaikin or more likely for me, to handle. Here, Chaikin and Bean are able to focus on Bean’s point of view, and the result is outstanding. Like Michael Collins’ superb Carrying the Fire, viewing the program through the eyes of the more humble astronauts makes it more relatable to us mere mortals. To be sure, Collins and Bean are still high achieving fighter jocks, but we appreciate their admiration for the larger-than-life characters like Pete Conrad or Alan Shepard. Combined with the paintings, the text is incredibly moving.

At the end of the chapters there is some behind-the-scenes discussion, showing, among other things, how Bean used space artifacts (like pieces of tools, foil, fabric) to add texture to his works. I found all of that very interesting.

Bean’s contribution is one of the most valuable, if under-appreciated, “spinoffs” of the space program. New technology, scientific data, economic benefits, and national pride all have their place. But Bean’s art fills in the emotional space. And Bean knew he had struck something special:

“I think of myself not as an astronaut who paints, but as an artist who was once an astronaut.”

At the same time, his attitude about it is down-to-earth (mixed with some Gordon Cooper swagger):

“You know, people romanticize the moon. But I’ve been there, and I can tell you that it’s mostly black dirt. But I want it to be the most beautiful black dirt that’s ever been painted in the history of art. I may be the most diligent and caring dirt artist there ever was.”