Exploring the earth’s skies with Bent Rej
Danish photographer Bent Rej knew when to look up. Judging from this series of photos taken during his travels, it’s clear he had a keen interest in skylines and cloudscapes. Towards the end of his life, he even discussed holding an exhibition focusing solely on the sky, and while he passed away before he had the chance to realise this project, these photos offer us a glimpse into what it might have looked like.
Artists have long been fascinated by the heavens. In Raphael’s famous Sistine Chapel fresco, God breathes life into Adam before a backdrop of infinite blue. By the early 19th century, John Constable was treating skies filled with mottled oval clouds as subjects in their own right, while in Van Gogh’s Starry Night, the sky is transformed into a swirl of amethyst and gold, making the human world looks staid and unchanging in comparison.
In the latter two examples, the sky is treated not as a necessary backdrop but as a Sentinal observing the fragile world below. Rej’s photographs some of that mood. From the Great Plains to the Great Wall of China, the sky – with its changing hues and shifting cloudlines – remains the focus of his attention. Sometimes, it is great sea of orange fire; other times, it is a duck egg speckled with milkwhite flecks. In England, India and Cuba, thick walls of Nimbostratus promise rain, while in the Danish village of Skagen, cellular bulbs of sky-lilac foreshadow starry skies.
In the selection of photos below, Bent Rej challenges our view of the sky as a separate, silent realm. Though certainly godlike, it is by no means detached – colouring, shaping and occasionally drenching the world below. So, the next time you’re out and about, remember to look up. You never know what drama might be unfolding.
