Clair de lune Pictures of the Moon in the Collection of Prints and Drawings
Apollo 11 landed on the moon fifty years ago. However, neither Jules Verne’s Barbicane nor Hergé’s Tintin stepped out of the spacecraft but people of flesh and blood. What might have taken the magic out of it was in fact the beginning of new dreams and fantasies. The moon’s power to fascinate us has continued undiminished.
The exhibition features pictures of the moon from various epochs. Sometimes they present the moon as the source of light in a nocturnal landscape, sometimes it is allegorical in multiple ways, and sometimes it becomes a sort of anthropomorphic vehicle for conveying own states of mind. Contrary to the sun, the moon represents the night, darkness, things that can’t be explained by rational means, the horrifying, the miraculous, feminine and even healing powers. Among the artists whose works will be on show are Sebald Beham, Balthasar Anton Dunker, Franz Niklaus König, Ernst Kreidolf, Paul Klee, Nell Walden, Meret Oppenheim, Claude Sandoz to name just a few.
