The Art of Air and Space: How Artists Imagined Flight Before Pilots Did

Long before humans flew, they painted flight. Now, for the first time, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has gathered its remarkable art collection into a single book — The Art of Air and Space, arriving on 27 October 2026 from Smithsonian Books, with 275 works spanning more than two centuries of looking up.

It is a magazine story about a museum book, and about an idea: that flight was never only an engineering problem. It was a dream first, drawn in etchings, painted in colour, photographed in wonder — and only afterwards built in metal.

FAKTA

• Book: The Art of Air and Space, by Carolyn Russo, Smithsonian Books, out 27 October 2026.
• Works: 275 artworks, from the late 18th century to today, including many never before seen by the public.
• Collection: The National Air and Space Museum holds about 7,000 works of aeronautical and space-related art.
• Chapters: 13 chapters, organised by art movements, artists and subjects — early flight, aviation, atmospheres and space exploration.
• Artists featured: Francisco Goya, Georgia O’Keeffe, Alma Thomas, Norman Rockwell, Annie Leibovitz, Morris Graves, Robert McCall, Henri Farré and others.

Smithsonian Art of Air and Space

Open the book anywhere and the centuries collapse. Goya’s fanciful 19th-century etching of flying men sits in the same story as Henri Farré’s first-hand aerial combat drawings from the First World War, and as Annie Leibovitz’s portraits from the NASA Art Program.

Georgia O’Keeffe captures the thrill of flight in an aerial painting inspired by her first commercial flights. Alma Thomas brings vibrant abstraction inspired by the Moon missions. Norman Rockwell paints the early space programme in warm Americana. Robert McCall paints the futures imagined for 2001: A Space Odyssey and Star Trek.

Why artists saw flight first

Artists, the book argues, understood something engineers later proved: flight changes how humans see themselves. From above, borders soften, landscapes become patterns, and the familiar becomes strange. That is why O’Keeffe’s aerial views feel abstract, and why Thomas’s Moon-inspired colour feels joyful rather than technical.

A starred Library Journal review, quoted in coverage of the book, calls it a guided tour of humanity’s fascination with flight and space — and a revealing lens on inner worlds and national character.

A companion exhibition, not a replacement

The book accompanies The Art of Air and Space: Interpretations of Flight, on view at the museum’s Flight and the Arts Center from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2027, featuring about 75 works from the permanent collection. The book, with 275 works, goes much further — a home gallery for readers who cannot reach Washington.

That distinction matters for magazine readers: the exhibition is a visit; the book is a keepsake. One shows you flight; the other lets you live with it.

Conclusion

The Art of Air and Space is, finally, a book about aspiration. Machines rust and missions end, but the drawings remain — proof that humans imagined themselves in the sky long before they could get there, and that they are still imagining further.

Read more on Watan News: The Art of Air and Space: how artists imagined flight.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is The Art of Air and Space published?

27 October 2026, from Smithsonian Books.

How many works does it include?

275 artworks, spanning the late 18th century to today.

Who is the author?

Carolyn Russo, curator at the National Air and Space Museum.

Is there an exhibition too?

Yes — Interpretations of Flight runs at the museum from 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2027.