The Somnium Series

Who wrote the first fiction book? Is it Isaac Asimov? H. G. Wells? Jules Verne?
Actually, the first ever science fiction book is titled Somnium and was written 400 years ago by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler. It describes a fantastic voyage to the Moon, its inhabitants, its landscape, and the Solar System's celestial motion.
This book has never been illustrated - until now. Bettina Forget has created a series of prints and paintings based on this book.

Somnium Multiprints
The "multiprints" were created by printing several images on top of each other onto the same sheet of paper. This process invites randomness and accident, as well as a dream-like layering of images. The composition is pulled together by the artist with an application of acrylic paints and inks, blocking out parts of the composition and enhancing others.

Somnium Paintings
The multilayered prints served as a starting point for a series of large-scale paintings, featuring major plot points and personnages of the Somnium story. The artist employed traditional painting techniques, drawing, stenciling and stamping and calligraphy to communicate her narrative.

Somnium Artbook
For the occasion of the Montreal All-Nighter, which is the grand finale of the Montreal High-Lights Festival, Bettina Forget created and abridged version of the Somnium, reducing the story line to a few key sentences. On each page of the book the story is retold in four languages: the original Latin, German, Kepler's native tongue, as well as English and French, the major languages of Montreal. During the Montreal All-Nighter, visitors are invited to take a free copy of the book and illustrate it in the empty spaces provided in the text.
More information about the Montreal All-Nighter, please visit
www.montrealenluniere.com