A Brief History of the Universe

Acrylic and oil on canvas 56x84 cm. $450 AUD

Our four dimensional space-time is represented in this painting by making the time scale the vertical line, and the other three space dimensions are flattened into the two dimensional picture-space. At the bottom left corner, space-time bursts forth from a singularity, a unique fluctuation of the energetic vacuum. From the mouth of the laughing child, the beginning of time, the hot soup of elementary particles and antiparticles issues. As time passes, the face of the woman indicates the aging of the Universe as molecules, planets, galaxies and living beings emerge. The cooling of the Universe is indicated by the changing of the colours from yellow to red, green, blue, and finally black. At this 'back' stage the Universe has expanded and cooled down so that all activity ceases, all energy has been dissipated, total disorder (entropy) has been achieved. This is called the 'heat death' of the Universe, the end of all activity at the physical level. (This scenario is only one possible 'history' suggested by physicists.)