Mother and Child by the Sea

This painting takes similar concepts from the work of Caspar David Friedrich, using darker, gloomier colors to portray a story. In this paining by Johan Christian Dahl, There is a woman with an arm outstretched towards her child. The child has an arm out pointing towards what appears to be an oncoming boat. Although the colors of this painting would lead one to think of sadness or pain, there is a sense of hope within this painting. Perhaps the child has an arm out trying to reach out to a loved one in the boat. The mother has her arm out to hold the child back in its excitement. There is the hope that this loved one has been gone a while and will be coming back to his family safely. The dark colors of the painting being used to show it is early. The moon is peeking out from behind a cloud, shedding some light on the small boat in the ocean. The darkness that originally leads one to think the message behind the painting is sad, also makes the audience look for underlying hope.