The Indonesian volcano Krakatoa underwent a series of four explosive eruptions in August of 1883. The force of the third explosion was so great that the shockwave went around the world three and a half times! More than 36,000 people were killed in the explosions or the tsunamis they caused. The volcano threw tons of dust and debris into the atmosphere, which made for spectacular sunsets featuring colors not normally seen in the sky over the next several years.
German artist and naturalist Professor Dr. Pechuël-Loesche recorded some of those sunsets in watercolor. Nine of his paintings were converted to chromolithographs and published in an 1888 German book about the atmospheric effects of the eruption. See all nine of those chromolithographs and an explanation of how the colors formed at Flashbak. -via Design You Trust