Moon

Moon, a colour lithograph crafted by Alphonse Mucha, serves as one-quarter of "The Moon and Stars".

A series of panneaux décoratif (or decorative panels) designed by Mucha in 1902 and printed by Ferdinand Champenois in the same year. The set features artistic expression of celestial bodies through personification.

It is worthy of note that this set appeared only 6 years after his debut set of art-nouveau panels "seasons" which, similarly, explores the world through the use of concepts personified as women.

A continued favouring of the use of panels highlights Mucha's philosophy that art should be both available and affordable to the masses.

Moon itself features a beautiful pale-skinned, silver-haired woman with a long flowing dress that is draped over her body from mid-breast downwards.

This semi-nudity is common to all the paintings in this set and may be used by Mucha to express the delicate beauty of the night's sky.

His chosen medium of ink and watercolour on paper is particularly effective in illustrating this with the deep contrast and rich colours associated.

The painting is an impressive show of Mucha's skill in the way he has rendered the flowing design of the textiles. Suspended in space, the woman floats before the moon which is full but features a highlighted crescent.

A notable contrast is created between the deep blues of her dress and the sharp white of her body before the radiating light.

She has a meditative expression and holds her hand up to her mouth, perhaps to represent how the silver muse upon a velvet sky dotted with pristine points of light can inspire any person to deep and reflective silence.