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A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon

Art inspired by the Moon...

MAGICAL NIGHT

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon by

“Night is a world lit by itself”
Antonio Porchia

Gaston La Touche (1854-1913)
De L’intrigue Nocturne
Oil on canvas

GOYA ~ WITCHES’ SABBATH

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon/Art & the Unconscious Mind/Passion Of Art by

Witches’ Sabbath is a 1798 oil on canvas by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya . Goya used the imagery of covens of witches in a number of works, most notably in one of his  Black Paintings, Witches Sabbath or The Great He-Goat(1821–1823) which contains similar sharp political and social overtones. At the time, a bitter struggle raged in Spain between liberals and those in favour of a church and a royalist-lead state

Witches’ Sabbath shows the devil in the form of a garlanded goat, surrounded by a coven of disfigured, young and aging witches in a moonlit barren landscape. The goat possesses large horns and is crowned by a wreath of oak leaves. An old witch holds an emaciated infant in her hands. The devil seems to be acting as priest at an initiation ceremony for the child, though popular superstition at the time believed the devil often fed on children and human foetuses. The skeletons of two infants can be seen; one discarded to the left, the other held by a crone in the centre foreground.

The English word “sabbat” came indirectly from Hebrew (שַׁבָּת). In Hebrew it means “to cease” or “to rest”. In Judaism Shabbath is the rest day celebrated on Saturday. In connection with the Medieval popularity of the belief that Jews worship the Devil, satanic gatherings of witches were called “sabbats” or synagogues. The latter is a Jewish places of worship, much like a church. Alternately, some Christians were accused of Judaizing. Christian Sabbathkeepers, who never accepted Emperor Constantine’s edict in 321 A.D., the first enforcing Christian worship on Sunday rather than on Sabbath, were demonized and accused of witchcraft; hence, the accusatory nomenclature, “witches’ sabbath.”

Source Wikipedia

GOYA ~ WITCHES' SABBATH

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon/Art & the Unconscious Mind/Passion Of Art by

Witches’ Sabbath is a 1798 oil on canvas by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya . Goya used the imagery of covens of witches in a number of works, most notably in one of his  Black Paintings, Witches Sabbath or The Great He-Goat(1821–1823) which contains similar sharp political and social overtones. At the time, a bitter struggle raged in Spain between liberals and those in favour of a church and a royalist-lead state

Witches’ Sabbath shows the devil in the form of a garlanded goat, surrounded by a coven of disfigured, young and aging witches in a moonlit barren landscape. The goat possesses large horns and is crowned by a wreath of oak leaves. An old witch holds an emaciated infant in her hands. The devil seems to be acting as priest at an initiation ceremony for the child, though popular superstition at the time believed the devil often fed on children and human foetuses. The skeletons of two infants can be seen; one discarded to the left, the other held by a crone in the centre foreground.

The English word “sabbat” came indirectly from Hebrew (שַׁבָּת). In Hebrew it means “to cease” or “to rest”. In Judaism Shabbath is the rest day celebrated on Saturday. In connection with the Medieval popularity of the belief that Jews worship the Devil, satanic gatherings of witches were called “sabbats” or synagogues. The latter is a Jewish places of worship, much like a church. Alternately, some Christians were accused of Judaizing. Christian Sabbathkeepers, who never accepted Emperor Constantine’s edict in 321 A.D., the first enforcing Christian worship on Sunday rather than on Sabbath, were demonized and accused of witchcraft; hence, the accusatory nomenclature, “witches’ sabbath.”

Source Wikipedia

JORGE LUIS BORGES ~ THE SUM

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon/Poetry of Art by

The silent friendliness of the moon

(misquoting Virgil) accompanies you

since that one night or evening lost

in time now, on which your restless

eyes first deciphered her forever

in a garden or patio turned to dust.

Forever? I know someone, someday

will be able to tell you truthfully:

‘You’ll never see the bright moon again,

You’ve now achieved the unalterable

sum of moments granted you by fate.

Useless to open every window

in the world. Too late. You’ll not find her.’

We live discovering and forgetting

that sweet familiarity of the night.

Take a long look. It might be the last.

Jorge Luis Borges

Painting is “Moon light over the Seine”
Henry Pether (1828-1865)

EDWARD STEICHEN ~ PHOTOGRAPHER OF MYSTERY

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon by

EDWARD STEICHEN
(b Luxembourg, 27 March 1879; d West Redding, CT, 25 March 1973).

American photographer, painter, designer and curator of Luxembourgeois birth. Steichen emigrated to the USA in 1881 and grew up in Hancock, MI, and Milwaukee, WI. His formal schooling ended when he was 15, but he developed an interest in art and photography. He used his self-taught photographic skills in design projects undertaken as an apprentice at a Milwaukee lithography firm. The Pool-evening (1899; New York, MOMA) reflects his early awareness of the Impressionists, especially Claude Monet, and American Symbolist photographers such as Clarence H. White. While still in Milwaukee, his work came to the attention of White, who provided an introduction to Alfred Stieglitz; Stieglitz was impressed by Steichen’s work and bought three of his photographs.

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE ~ WHO NEEDS A LADDER TO THE MOON?

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon by

“Ladder to the Moon” 1958 by Georgia O’Keeffe

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE ~ WHO NEEDS A LADDER TO THE MOON?

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon by

“Ladder to the Moon” 1958 by Georgia O’Keeffe

ILYA REPIN ~ MOONLIGHT

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon by

“Moonlight” by Ilya Repin

“Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star.”

W. Clement Stone


ARTHUR RIMBAUD ~ THE MOON

in A Mysterious Encounter with the Moon by

But, truly, I have wept too much!
The Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.”
Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891)

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