When the sun sets, art transforms. This exhibition gathers paintings, prints, and drawings that capture the mystery and beauty of nighttime — from Rembrandt's Night Watch to Whistler's Nocturnes, from moonlit harbors to fireworks over 19th-century New York.
Darkness has always challenged and inspired artists. How do you paint what you can barely see? How do you capture moonlight on water, the glow of a candle, the drama of fireworks against a black sky?
This exhibition brings together works spanning centuries and cultures that answer these questions in remarkably different ways. Rembrandt's famous Night Watch revolutionized group portraiture with its theatrical lighting. James McNeill Whistler invented the "Nocturne" as an artistic category, treating night scenes as visual music. Winslow Homer captured the electric excitement of Fourth of July celebrations.
From Korean mist-shrouded temples at dusk to Danish harbors under the moon, these works reveal how artists across the world have found beauty, drama, and poetry in the hours after dark.
Curator
Vasily Gnuchev
Visibility
Public
John La Farge
Watercolor, gouache, and charcoal on off-white wove paper adhered to wove paper