Moon Daylight Washington Allston Analysis

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Moonlight is a painting by Washington Allston that depicts the moon shining over a bridge at midnight. Allston used Oil on Canvas so that he could muddle the background of the painting and make the moon a more prominent figure. The moon in the painting is reflecting in the water and there are five people depicted in the artwork. One is a man on a horse, there is someone running in the background and there is a family of three talking to the man on the horse. This painting is 25 1/8 x 35 3/4 in. which shows that the painting is of a medium size. Washington Allston made this painting in 1819 and it is now residing in the Kristin and Roger Servison Gallery or Gallery 133. Allston uses color, distance, and tone to express the meaning of the piece of art.

Color is used in this piece of art so that the artist can put emphasis on the moon which is the focal point of the piece. Most of the painting is done with dark colors and the background is muddled so that you can not totally make out what is being depicted in the background. Color is used the most in the sky where the moonlight is illuminating it. There is slightly more of a color variation in the very front of the painting where a family …show more content…

Also this poem takes place at midnight which is similar in that the painting which is painted when the moon is at its full height. The man in the poem is reflecting on troubling times and has a glum mood so the painting reflects this since the painting is pretty dark. In the end the man realizes that love is like the moon with the eye seeing its broken reflection but the heart seeing it whole like the moon in the sky. The painting shows this by putting emphasis on it like the conclusion of the poem does and making the moon stand out by being brighter than the rest of the