Moonrise

Poetic and evocative, this twilight landscape shows the moon rising over the marshes and islands of Alexandria Bay, New York. George Inness felt that the goal of a work of art is "not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion…and the true beauty of the work consists in the beauty of the sentiment or emotion which it inspires." Viewing all of nature as symbolic and full of meaning, Inness imbued his landscapes with a spiritual dimension, influenced by the ideas of the eighteenth-century Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg.

Geography: Made in Montclair, New Jersey, United States

Culture: American

Period: 19th century

Credit: Gift of Teresa Heinz in memory of her husba...