Moonrise over the Sea
1822 · Oil on canvas · Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
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About this work
- Artist
- Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840)
- Year
- 1822
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 55 × 71 cm
- Collection
- Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
- Movement
- Romanticism
Two women and a man sit on rocks at the edge of the sea and watch the moon rise through a band of cloud, while two sailing ships ghost towards the shore on a light wind. The scene is probably the Baltic coast of Friedrich's native Pomerania. The Berlin banker Joachim Heinrich Wilhelm Wagener visited Friedrich in Dresden in August 1822 and ordered a pair of landscapes, a morning and an evening; this was the evening picture, its companion The Lonely Tree. Friedrich reported both finished on 1 November 1822. Wagener kept them until his death, and in 1861 his bequest became the founding collection of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, where the painting remains in the Alte Nationalgalerie. A larger, earlier version of the subject, from 1821, is in the Hermitage in St Petersburg.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
Three figures on rocks watching the moon rise through cloud with ghostly ships, a night scene for a bedroom, bathroom or landing at 24×18 in black. A navy, charcoal or soft grey wall; it pairs with Two Men Contemplating the Moon.
- Style
- Romanticism painting
- Era
- 19th century (1822)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- dramatic, moody
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 16×12, 24×18 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; oak lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Moonrise over the Sea in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Moonrise over the Sea painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
The full-bleed edition
The painting printed edge-to-edge at its own proportions, filling the whole sheet — and available on gallery-wrapped canvas.
