Evolution’s theorist found inspiration in art, and artists in his ideas
By Scott LaFee, Union-Tribune Staff Writer
August 3, 2009
In “On the Origins of Species,” published in 1859, Charles Darwin rewrote the story of life, offering a new explanation of how nature worked. His theory of natural selection profoundly and permanently altered the way we perceive the world around us.
The book’s momentous impact was not restricted to the realm of science, however. Darwin’s ideas resonated in the arts as well, challenging and inspiring artists like Martin Johnson Heade, Thomas Moran, Claude Monet, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas and others to visualize their environment and its inhabitants in new, marvelous and sometimes fantastical ways.
