The Moon 1902

Alphonse Mucha made 'The Moon' as an illustration, and it feels like he brushed layers of moonlight and shadow onto the paper. I can almost see him in his studio, carefully building up the image with each delicate stroke. The palette is very muted, dusky greens and browns, it's all so subtle. And then you have that pop of the moon in the background with a ghostly radiance. Mucha was thinking hard about the contrast between light and dark and how a few glowing highlights can really make an image sing. It reminds me of the way Gustav Klimt used gold leaf, but here it's more about the ethereal glow. You get the feeling this woman is a goddess, coming to life in the dark. She's shy, modest, almost covering her face, and yet she holds all the cards. Mucha’s 'The Moon' is a reminder of the beauty we can find when we embrace nuance and subtlety and trust our viewers to find their own way into our world.