Lever de lune sur la mer

Friedrich painted this small, dark seascape in late August of 1818, just back in Dresden from his honeymoon. He had married that year, in his mid-40s, and taken his new wife to the Baltic coast where he had grown up, around Greifswald and the island of Rügen. On the trip he filled sketchbooks with studies of the shore and the fishing boats, and one drawing of ships he made on the 31st of July fed almost directly into this picture. The result is quiet and nearly empty: a low strip of shingle, a band of sea, and a heavy moonlit sky taking up most of the canvas. Small boats sit far out on the water, catching the last of the light.