In form, this painting is a landscape with figures, at sunset. Three people, two women and a boy, have ascended a small hill overlooking a city in the distance. The city is Dresden, Germany. The women have paused before the top of the hill, waiting for the boy.
The boy is above them, on the summit, looking up at the sky. He’s in motion- at first he seems to be dancing, but looked at more closely, he appears to be gesturing to something above him, or even reaching upward for it.
On the internet, this picture is called “The Evening Star”, so presumably that’s what he’s reaching for. But there is no star visible in the picture.
The painting is by a German artist named Caspar Friedrich, and he painted it around 1835. He called it only “Landscape near Dresden”. It’s not a big painting, it’s about the size of a large photograph.
I first saw it in a museum in New York about thirty years ago. I didn’t know the artist, but the picture hit me with great force. It’s beautiful of course; the composition is perfectly balanced, the figures are perfectly placed, the technique is flawless, and what it has to say is easily seen.
But what it has to say is finally beyond words. It’s a somber picture. Darkness is falling. The women ascending the hill seem quiet, thoughtful. The twilight is still glowing, but the day is over.
There’s an overall sadness to the scene… except for the boy, reaching for the sky above him, almost dancing with joy. His gesture seems to be saying “Look! Just look!”– At the sky, at the star, at the world itself.
The contrasts of darkness and light, sadness, resignation and wild joy, combine to produce a unique and powerful statement about life itself which, as the artist understood, contains all of those things at once.
The title was changed later by someone after the artist’s death, from “Landscape near Dresden” to “The Evening Star” even though there’s no star to be seen. Probably this was done to give a clear meaning to the viewers, to give the boy on the hilltop something to reach for.
But “Landscape Near Dresden” is better. The boy doesn’t have to be reaching for anything, he’s just reaching. It’s a joyful gesture that he’s making– toward the wonder and mystery of existence.