Somnium – The First Ever Science Fiction Book

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 has created a series of prints and paintings based on this under-appreciated work of fiction.

About the Artworks

After reading versions of the book in German and English, researching the life and work of Johannes Kepler
as well as astronomy of the 17th century, Bettina collected a databank of images which reflect the
key elements of the storyline.
She then randomly printed these images on top of each other with an inkjet printer, creating accidental,
dreamlike compositions. As a final step she blocked out and over-painted chosen areas of the prints
with inks and acrylic paints, pulling the composition together.
Each print is a unique artwork.