  About the Artwork
  
  
  On the morning of January 20, 1919, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner witnessed a natural phenomenon of unusually colored moonlight over the Swiss Alps, which he immediately wanted to capture on canvas. This work, painted by the artist from memory, oscillates between the topographical reality of the landscape and the fantastical color palette of orange clouds over red sky, the blue, turquoise, and lilac shades of the snow, and the pink trees. The characteristically flat-topped Tinzenhorn mountain seen in the distance is the focal point of the composition, where nature reigns and only a few houses blanketed by snow hint at the human presence. 

Kirchner moved to Switzerland in 1917 to recuperate from a nervous breakdown. In the year he made this painting, Germany, defeated in World War I and torn by a revolutionary violence, was on the brink of social and political collapse. The artist acknowledged that he painted the Alpine landscapes with his "nerves and blood," seemingly unable to entirely remove himself from the modern world.
  
  
  Title
  Winter Landscape in Moonlight
  
  
  Artwork Date
  1919
  
  Artist
  Ernst Ludwig Kirchner
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  1880 - 1938
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  German
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on canvas
  
  
  Dimensions
  Unframed: 47 1/2 × 47 1/2 inches (120.7 × 120.7 cm)
  Framed: 50 1/2 × 50 × 2 5/8 inches (128.3 × 127 × 6.7 cm)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Modern Art to 1970
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Curt Valentin in memory of the artist on the occasion of Dr. William R. Valentiner&#039;s 60th birthday
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  40.58
  
  
  Copyright
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