Moonlight falls across several masted ships near a rocky shoreline in this horizontal painting. The sky fills the top three-quarters of the picture. A veil of slate-gray clouds is lit to pearl white around the crisp, full moon at the center of the composition. Patches of denim-blue sky are seen through breaks in the blanket of clouds. Moonlight reflects down the center of rippling, silvery-gray water that laps against a beach close to us, along the bottom edge of the painting. A tent is set up in the lower left corner of the composition. There, two women and one man stand looking at a glowing fire next to the tent. One woman holds a basket on her head, the other tucks a flat basket under one arm. The man stands between the two women, and a fourth man crouches near the fire, his back to us. In the opening of the tent, another woman kneels over a large bowl as she looks at the fire. A fifth person, a man, gazes at the fire as he sits smoking a long-stemmed pipe on a boulder. At the foot of the boulders, a man lies back against some bundles, one arm thrown up over his head. A dog curls up next to his hip. Not far from the sleeping man and in the center of the foreground, a man carries several long wooden objects, possibly oars, over one shoulder while a dog beyond him barks at the lapping surf. The beach curves like a C away from us, along the left. At the point of the curve in the middle distance, a structure like a city wall and gate jut out to the water’s edge. More buildings atop steep cliffs rise vertically beyond the gate. The shoreline curves into the distance again, and more buildings, including a lighthouse, and masted ships there are smoke-gray silhouettes. Near the lower right corner of the painting, four men pull on ropes tied around the prow of a small wooden boat while three others push it toward the land. Another man stands in the far end. A short distance beyond that boat is a tall wooden ship with three masts and rigging outlined against the night sky. Windows along the decks of that boat’s wide stern, angled toward us, glow with golden light. Beyond it and a bit to our left, another ship, smaller in scale, sails away from us. Several more ships move back to the horizon until we only see strokes of white and gray to indicate their unfurled sails.

Claude-Joseph Vernet, Moonlight, 1772, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Fund and Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2018.13.1

Finding Awe: Claude-Joseph Vernet, Moonlight

Focus: Collections

Interactive Workshop

Thursday, November 21, 2024
2:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
West Building Main Floor Gallery 55

Guided Tours
Workshops
Talks
In-person
Registration Required

Workshop Series: Finding Awe

We all could use a little more awe in our lives—come find it in the museum! In this series of interactive workshops, we’ll meditate on awe in our lives and in art. Join us for a pause from your daily routine, to breathe deeply and look mindfully at a single work of art. You’ll be invited to look closely, wonder, and share your own awe experiences. We hope you’ll leave with some “awe practices,” tools for cultivating an awe mindset in your daily life.

Session 4: Claude-Joseph Vernet, Moonlight

Reflect on the complexity of awe, an emotion that can be intensely pleasurable or imbued with fear depending upon the context. Compare Vernet’s pendant paintings and consider how notions of the Sublime influence thought today.

This program is grounded in the National Gallery’s longstanding commitment to slow looking and offers new “awe practices” drawn from the research of Dacher Keltner, Professor of Psychology at the University of California-Berkeley, director of The Greater Good Science Center, and author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life (2023). Research shows that experiences of awe help support mental and physical wellbeing, open us up to greater creativity and deeper empathy, and connect us to our shared humanity. The National Gallery and UC-Berkeley are currently collaborating on research and participants in this program will be encouraged to respond to surveys.

Ages 18 and up. Led by senior educator Nathalie Ryan. Questions? Email [email protected]