More than just a disc in the night sky

The footprints were pristine. Not a single cloud obscured the bare, barren, rugged lunar horizon. When man first stepped on the moon 50 years ago, what viewers on Earth essentially saw was a massive, inert lump of rock in space. Yet, one giant leap did not ultimately change the way we view the moon. For centuries, our closest satellite has offered us a vaguely luminescent yet inscrutable, sombre nocturnal reflection of the human condition – as it still does today. This disc in the night sky also conveys something miraculous, enigmatic and feminine. The Clair de lune exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts in Berne (Kunstmuseum Bern) shows how much humans have projected their aspirations onto the moon and how much the moon has fired our artistic imagination. Meticulously curated by Marianne Wackernagel, it features exhibits from the museum’s Collection of Prints and Drawings, with works dating from the 16th
century to the present day.

Clair de lune, Kunstmuseum Bern, until 20 October 2019.

www.kunstmuseumbern.ch