posted 05-12-2009 02:52 PM               

The Moon: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

On view through Sunday, January 10, 2010 at the Audrey Jones Beck Building

Most Americans born by the mid-1960s remember exactly where they were on July 20, 1969, the day the entire world watched with amazement the flickering black-and-white TV pictures of the first men walking on the surface of the moon. In 2009, the MFAH celebrates the 40th anniversary of this momentous event with The Moon: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

The exhibition pays tribute to the achievements of the Apollo space missions, placing the unforgettable pictures of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in the context of man's age-old fascination with earth's closest planetary neighbor. Over the centuries, scientific observation, artistic interpretation, and religious thought have all informed people's perception and understanding of the moon. This exhibition provides an overview of 500 years of fascination with the ever-changing phases, yet ever-constant image, of the moon.

Approximately 130 works of art will be on view, from an exquisite 15th-century Madonna whose virginity was likened to the immaculate surface of the moon, to romantic moonlit landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich, to Impressionist and Post-Impressionist works by Manet and Vallotton. Featuring some of the most groundbreaking treatises on the moon -- including Galileo Galilei's Sidereus Nuncius of 1610 -- as well as 17th-century telescopes and other early scientific instruments, moon globes, and maps, The Moon will not only balance the imaginary and artistic visions of the moon with documented facts, but also allow the viewer to understand how the interaction between art and science has informed perceptions of this celestial body.

The Moon was conceived by Andreas Bluehm, Director of the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne, Germany. Helga Aurisch, Associate Curator of European Art at the MFAH, will coordinate the presentation in Houston.