Silhouetted against the night sky - with the moon shining through long veils of cloud - can be seen Dresden’s distinctive skyline and the landmarks that define it. The Frauenkirche, the Hofkirche, and the Augustusbrücke crossing the River Elbe. In this highly atmospheric nocturnal scene, with Dresden idealized as a sort of fairy-tale city, the artist plays with the many variations in light: direct, reflected, obscured.
Dahl, who was drawn, as were so many other artists, by the city's important art treasures, came to Dresden in 1818. Apart from visits to Italy and his native Norway, he spent the rest of his life - nearly forty years - in Dresden, and there became a close friend of Caspar David Friedrich.
(Text adapted - radically; entirely re-written, really - from the website of the Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden.)
