After Dark

Curated by Tomás Ferreira

Before electric light, night was something a painter had to invent. These are pictures lit by the moon, by a candle, by a lamp just out of frame, and by almost nothing at all. They reward standing close and giving your eyes a moment to adjust.

Walk in

12 works0 visits

Checklist

In the order you meet them, clockwise from the far wall.

1
North wall
Maerten van Heemskerck
Dutch, 1498–1574
Portrait of Machtelt Suijs, c. 1540–45
Oil on wood
85 × 74 cm (33 ½ × 29 ¼ in.)
2
North wall
Valentin de Boulogne
French, 1591–1632
Samson, 1630–31
Oil on canvas
135.6 × 102.8 cm (53 ½ × 40 ½ in.)
3
North wall
Jacques-Louis David
French, 1748–1825
Cupid and Psyche, 1817
Oil on canvas
184.2 × 241.6 cm (72 ½ × 95 in.)
4
North wall
Charles Willson Peale
American, born The Thirteen Colonies, 1741–1827
George Washington at Princeton, c. 1779
Oil on canvas
131 × 121.6 cm (51 ½ × 47 ¾ in.)
5
North wall
Salvator Rosa
Italian, 1615–1673
Scenes of Witchcraft: Evening, c. 1645–49
Oil on canvas
6
East wall
John Linnell
British, 1792–1882
Noah: The Eve of the Deluge, 1848
Oil on canvas
146 × 221 cm (57 ½ × 87 in.)
7
East wall
Martin Johnson Heade
American, 1819–1904
Point Judith, Rhode Island, 1867–68
Oil on canvas
72.3 × 128 cm (28 ½ × 50 ½ in.)
8
South wall
Gerrit van Honthorst
Dutch, 1590–1656
Samson and Delilah, c. 1616
Oil on canvas
129 × 94 cm (50 ¾ × 37 in.)
9
South wall
Georges de La Tour
French, 1593–1652
Saint Peter Repentant, 1645
Oil on canvas
114 × 95 cm (45 × 37 ½ in.)
10
West wall
Salvator Rosa
Italian, 1615–1673
Scenes of Witchcraft: Morning, c. 1645–1649
Oil on canvas
11
West wall
Edgar Degas
French, 1834–1917
Frieze of Dancers, c. 1895
Oil on fabric
70 × 200.5 cm (27 ½ × 79 in.)
12
West wall
Jacques André Joseph Aved
French, 1702–1766
Portrait of Jean-Gabriel du Theil at the Signing of the Treaty of Vienna, 1738–40
Oil on canvas
124.5 × 92.4 cm (49 × 36 ½ in.)