Night (Die Nacht)
Philipp Otto Runge
European Art
These etchings are part of a rare first edition of Philipp Otto Runge’s Times of Day, a set of four large prints (Morning, Day, Evening, and Night) filled with elaborate floral decorations and angelic children meant to symbolize the eternal cycle of nature. For Runge, human life was part of this cycle, and the natural world was an expression of the divine.
Runge intended to use these designs for a monumental series of painted murals, but only one painting was ever completed. Landmarks of German Romanticism, a movement that emphasized emotion and the mysticism of nature, the etchings were appreciated by the movement’s leading figures, including the philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who displayed a set of Times of Day in his music room and described the works as “enough to drive one mad, beautiful and crazy at the same time.”
Runge intended to use these designs for a monumental series of painted murals, but only one painting was ever completed. Landmarks of German Romanticism, a movement that emphasized emotion and the mysticism of nature, the etchings were appreciated by the movement’s leading figures, including the philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who displayed a set of Times of Day in his music room and described the works as “enough to drive one mad, beautiful and crazy at the same time.”
PORTFOLIO/SERIES
Times of Day (Tageszeiten), Plate IV
MEDIUM
Etching on wove paper
DATES
1803–1805
DIMENSIONS
Sheet: 28 1/8 x 18 7/8 in. (71.4 x 47.9 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
Stamp lower left verso
INSCRIPTIONS
Verso lower center in graphite "38.626"
COLLECTIONS
European Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
38.626
CREDIT LINE
Museum Collection Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Philipp Otto Runge (German, 1777–1810). Night (Die Nacht), 1803–1805. Etching on wove paper, Sheet: 28 1/8 x 18 7/8 in. (71.4 x 47.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Museum Collection Fund, 38.626 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 38.626_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 38.626_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
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