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Moonlight Marine

1870–90
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 774
Raised in the whaling port of New Bedford, Massachusetts, Ryder continued to seek contact with the ocean after he moved to New York in 1870. A sea captain recalled his friend Ryder’s visits to his ship when it was in port: “On moonlight nights he would go on to the bridge and watch the numerous craft passing up and down the Hudson, getting ‘moonlight effects.’ I have known him to walk down to the Battery at midnight, and just sit there studying the effect of clouds passing over the moon.” Ryder’s habit of applying pigment in many thick layers has caused changes in the contours of certain forms—clouds, sails, and the boat’s hull—since this painting was completed.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Moonlight Marine
  • Artist: Albert Pinkham Ryder (American, New Bedford, Massachusetts 1847–1917 Elmhurst, New York)
  • Date: 1870–90
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Oil and possibly wax on wood panel
  • Dimensions: 11 1/2 x 12 in. (29.2 x 30.5 cm)
  • Credit Line: Samuel D. Lee Fund, 1934
  • Object Number: 34.55
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

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Nourmahal, Albert Pinkham Ryder American, Oil on wood, American
Nourmahal
Albert Pinkham Ryder
by 1924
Pasture at Evening, Albert Pinkham Ryder American, Oil on canvas, American
Pasture at Evening
Albert Pinkham Ryder
1912–32
Autumn Meadows, Albert Pinkham Ryder American, Oil on canvas mounted on wood, American
Autumn Meadows
Albert Pinkham Ryder
1912–17
Landscape, Albert Pinkham Ryder American, Oil on canvas, American
Landscape
Albert Pinkham Ryder
1897–98 (?)
The Bridge, Albert Pinkham Ryder American, Oil on gilt leather, American
The Bridge
Albert Pinkham Ryder
ca. 1880

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