Lot 1323 Dα

In the chapter on moonlit scenes in his tenth letter on landscape painting, Carus writes, “For just as the moon affects the pulse of the waters of the earth as it orbits around her […] so it also affects the pulse of the human soul, and our minds! - and what music resonates upon the strings of our minds when the moon in its many-splendored beauty blows upon them like wind upon an Aeolian harp!” (from the German in Carus, C. G: Briefe und Aufsätze zur Landschaftsmalerei, ed. and with postface by Gertrud Heider, Leipzig/Weimar, 1982).
Carus' fascination with the moonlight's effect upon mind and soul is evident in his works. Archway and window motifs are also common in his œuvre. The gateway is symbolic of a liminal space, a transition between one world and the next: The known and the unknown, darkness and light. An archway is always an invitation to walk through it. It can be seen as an entrance into safety or, as in the present work, as a threshold between the profane and the sacred realm. Depictions of Christ on Romanesque and Gothic tympana often reference the Bible verse “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
Carus worked as a doctor for many years, and is considered a forerunner of what we now refer to as holistic medicine. He saw a therapeutic effect in painting, “I have often found myself able to clear the innermost mysteries of the soul from deepest gloom by forming dark foggy pictures, churchyards under snow, and similar subjects into painted compositions.” (see Carus, Carl Gustav: Lebenserinnerungen und Denkwürdigkeiten. Nach der zweibändigen Originalausgabe von 1865/66, ed. Elmar Jansen, vol.1, Weimar, 1966)

Proceeds from the sale of this work will go to benefit the Cardinal Meisner Foundation, Cologne.