Since you consume the internet excessively, you’ve probably at some point seen the image above, maybe with the added text: MY NOSE ITCHES. This is a very funny meme, well done internet.


However, you may not know the artist behind that painting of the slightly awkward astronaut. So our ongoing aerospace artists series is pleased to introduce you to Alan Bean, Lunar Module Pilot of Apollo 12 and the fourth man to ever walk on the Moon.


Bean is not only a cosmic hero, but also — like his Soviet colleague, spacewalker cosmonaut Aleksey A. Leonov — a talented and prolific painter. You may ask how the NASA astronaut who became the fourth man to walk on the Moon (preceded by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Pete Conrad) also became an inspired painter of the Apollo program. His biography on the official Alan Bean homepage explains:

Bean’s development as a painter began when he took his first art class while he was a test pilot at Patuxent River, Maryland. Among the early works are flower motifs, abstract flight motifs, and copies of paintings by Cezanne, Degas, and Greacen.

After his Apollo 12 and Skylab 3 space flights, he worked on the Space Shuttle program and was named acting Chief Astronaut, overseeing the training of new astronauts. For the first time since he was assigned to Apollo 12, he was no longer preparing for an upcoming flight of his own and, all of sudden, there was spare time for an old love: painting. [...] “So I took some time off and painted full-time to see if I’d like it. I simulated it, which is always good. I learned that at NASA; and the more I simulated being an artist, the more I realized it’s much more difficult than I’d thought. But at the same time I liked it. I cared about it! I had many nice job offers for a lot of money, but I didn’t care about them. I care about these paintings. I care about them every day.”

The following selection of paintings — mostly of astronauts on the Moon —shows you a firsthand artistic account of real space adventures.

An American Success Story, 1987 (Apollo 16’s John Young on the Moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

Cernan And His Rover, 1993 (Apollo 17’s Eugene Cernan on the Moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

The Hammer and the Feather, 1986 (Apollo 15’s Dave Scott on the Moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

A Giant Leap (Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong steps on the Moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

Straightening our Stripes, 1985 (Neil Armstrong deploying the American flag on the Moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

Heavenly Reflections, 1990 (Pete Conrad and Alan Bean on the Moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

Helping Hands, 1985 (Pete Conrad and Alan Bean working on the moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

Conrad, Gordon, and Bean: The Fantasy, 1992 (Apollo 12 crew on the moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

In the Beginning, 1993 (Commemorating July 20, 1969)


Source: Heritage Auctions

Right Stuff Field Geologists, 1993 (The Apollo 17 moonwalkers)




Source: Heritage Auctions



In Flight, 1990 (Apollo 14’s Alan Shepard hits his famous golf shot on the Moon)


Source: Heritage Auctions

Armstrong, Aldrin, and an American Eagle, 1983


Source: The Alan Bean Gallery

Big Al and his Rickshaw, 1983


Source: The Alan Bean Gallery

Hopes and Dreams, 1987 (The Shuttle Returns to Flight)


Source: The Alan Bean Gallery

Night Launch, 1975


Source: The Alan Bean Gallery

Spirit of Space Flight, glass mosaic completed c1961


Source: The Alan Bean Gallery

Is Anyone Out There? 2006


Source: The Alan Bean Gallery


Alan Bean Apollo 12 lunar module pilot (NASA/NASA)