Floor plan

South wing: ThemesBlue Hour

Blue Hour

A row of spire-like structures of different heights is silhouetted in azure blue against a soft pink, yellow, peach, and lavender-purple sunset and reflected in a rippling river in this nearly square landscape painting. Along the horizon, the buildings stretch from our right, almost fully across the canvas, and are painted with vertical brushstrokes in cool shades of blue. The sky behind the towers seems hazy with intermingling, pastel-colored clouds. The buildings are reflected in the river, which fills the bottom third of the painting. The surface of the water is painted with short, horizontal brushstrokes in azure blue for the buildings, and apricot, rose, and marigold orange for the sky’s reflection. A streak and smudge of olive-green paint on the water represents a person in a boat near the center of the painting. The artist signed and dated the work in the same olive color at the lower right: “Claude Monet 1903.”
Moonlight falls across several masted ships near a rocky shoreline in this horizontal painting. The sky fills the top three-quarters of the picture. A veil of slate-gray clouds is lit to pearl white around the crisp, full moon at the center of the composition. Patches of denim-blue sky are seen through breaks in the blanket of clouds. Moonlight reflects down the center of rippling, silvery-gray water that laps against a beach close to us, along the bottom edge of the painting. A tent is set up in the lower left corner of the composition. There, two women and one man stand looking at a glowing fire next to the tent. One woman holds a basket on her head, the other tucks a flat basket under one arm. The man stands between the two women, and a fourth man crouches near the fire, his back to us. In the opening of the tent, another woman kneels over a large bowl as she looks at the fire. A fifth person, a man, gazes at the fire as he sits smoking a long-stemmed pipe on a boulder. At the foot of the boulders, a man lies back against some bundles, one arm thrown up over his head. A dog curls up next to his hip. Not far from the sleeping man and in the center of the foreground, a man carries several long wooden objects, possibly oars, over one shoulder while a dog beyond him barks at the lapping surf. The beach curves like a C away from us, along the left. At the point of the curve in the middle distance, a structure like a city wall and gate jut out to the water’s edge. More buildings atop steep cliffs rise vertically beyond the gate. The shoreline curves into the distance again, and more buildings, including a lighthouse, and masted ships there are smoke-gray silhouettes. Near the lower right corner of the painting, four men pull on ropes tied around the prow of a small wooden boat while three others push it toward the land. Another man stands in the far end. A short distance beyond that boat is a tall wooden ship with three masts and rigging outlined against the night sky. Windows along the decks of that boat’s wide stern, angled toward us, glow with golden light. Beyond it and a bit to our left, another ship, smaller in scale, sails away from us. Several more ships move back to the horizon until we only see strokes of white and gray to indicate their unfurled sails.
A work made of oil on panel.
Burning Oil Well at Night, near Rouseville, Pennsylvania, by James Hamilton, ca. 1861
Two Men Contemplating the Moon, by Caspar David Friedrich, ca. 1825–30
Life Saving Patrol, by Edward Moran, ca. 1893

The works in this room are listed below.

Works in this room

The short interval after sunset, when the light goes cool and the outlines soften, drew painters and printmakers back again and again. These works hold that hour: moonlit harbours, evening streets and nocturnes in which blue does most of the work.

North wall

  1. A row of spire-like structures of different heights is silhouetted in azure blue against a soft pink, yellow, peach, and lavender-purple sunset and reflected in a rippling river in this nearly square landscape painting. Along the horizon, the buildings stretch from our right, almost fully across the canvas, and are painted with vertical brushstrokes in cool shades of blue. The sky behind the towers seems hazy with intermingling, pastel-colored clouds. The buildings are reflected in the river, which fills the bottom third of the painting. The surface of the water is painted with short, horizontal brushstrokes in azure blue for the buildings, and apricot, rose, and marigold orange for the sky’s reflection. A streak and smudge of olive-green paint on the water represents a person in a boat near the center of the painting. The artist signed and dated the work in the same olive color at the lower right: “Claude Monet 1903.”
    The Houses of Parliament, SunsetClaude Monet, 1903Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. Moonlight falls across several masted ships near a rocky shoreline in this horizontal painting. The sky fills the top three-quarters of the picture. A veil of slate-gray clouds is lit to pearl white around the crisp, full moon at the center of the composition. Patches of denim-blue sky are seen through breaks in the blanket of clouds. Moonlight reflects down the center of rippling, silvery-gray water that laps against a beach close to us, along the bottom edge of the painting. A tent is set up in the lower left corner of the composition. There, two women and one man stand looking at a glowing fire next to the tent. One woman holds a basket on her head, the other tucks a flat basket under one arm. The man stands between the two women, and a fourth man crouches near the fire, his back to us. In the opening of the tent, another woman kneels over a large bowl as she looks at the fire. A fifth person, a man, gazes at the fire as he sits smoking a long-stemmed pipe on a boulder. At the foot of the boulders, a man lies back against some bundles, one arm thrown up over his head. A dog curls up next to his hip. Not far from the sleeping man and in the center of the foreground, a man carries several long wooden objects, possibly oars, over one shoulder while a dog beyond him barks at the lapping surf. The beach curves like a C away from us, along the left. At the point of the curve in the middle distance, a structure like a city wall and gate jut out to the water’s edge. More buildings atop steep cliffs rise vertically beyond the gate. The shoreline curves into the distance again, and more buildings, including a lighthouse, and masted ships there are smoke-gray silhouettes. Near the lower right corner of the painting, four men pull on ropes tied around the prow of a small wooden boat while three others push it toward the land. Another man stands in the far end. A short distance beyond that boat is a tall wooden ship with three masts and rigging outlined against the night sky. Windows along the decks of that boat’s wide stern, angled toward us, glow with golden light. Beyond it and a bit to our left, another ship, smaller in scale, sails away from us. Several more ships move back to the horizon until we only see strokes of white and gray to indicate their unfurled sails.
    MoonlightClaude-Joseph Vernet, 1772Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  3. A work made of oil on panel.
    Aeneas Rescuing Anchises from Burning TroyHendrick van Steenwijck, the Younger, c. 1610Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago

East wall

  1. Burning Oil Well at Night, near Rouseville, Pennsylvania, by James Hamilton, ca. 1861
    Burning Oil Well at Night, near Rouseville, PennsylvaniaJames Hamilton, ca. 1861Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum
  2. Two Men Contemplating the Moon, by Caspar David Friedrich, ca. 1825–30
    Two Men Contemplating the MoonCaspar David Friedrich, ca. 1825–30Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  3. Life Saving Patrol, by Edward Moran, ca. 1893
    Life Saving PatrolEdward Moran, ca. 1893Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum

West wall

  1. Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter Night, by Charles Burchfield, December 1917
    Church Bells Ringing, Rainy Winter NightCharles Burchfield, December 1917Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  2. The Witch (Night Piece), by Jan van de Velde II, 1626
    The Witch (Night Piece)Jan van de Velde II, 1626Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art
  3. Nocturne, by John La Farge, ca. 1885
    NocturneJohn La Farge, ca. 1885Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art

South wall

  1. Bay of New York, Sunset, by Thomas Chambers, mid 19th century
    Bay of New York, SunsetThomas Chambers, mid 19th centuryCourtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington
  2. A work made of oil on paperboard.
    Lane Scene at NightJohn Atkinson Grimshaw, 1872Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
  3. Loosely painted scene of a brown-haired girl in her nightgown standing in a dark room, gazing out a window into a brighter night, her face unseen and her hand drawing back the pale curtain. Light blues and pink whites dominate the girl and the window, while deep browns, blues, and greens color the darkened portions of her room.
    The Girl by the WindowEdvard Munch, 1893Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago