The Nocturne

Libretto

        Here follows is my interpretation of the painting 'Girl at Pianoforte'  and I will hopefully try to explain why I am both fascinated by its existence and haunted by its loss. 

    This painting 'Girl at Pianoforte' features a young woman, of indiscriminate age. She could be anywhere between fourteen and forty. She sits alone, at least the viewer does not see anyone else with her. The room is depicted as sparse, only the pianoforte and the windows are represented. The Girl in question, is playing the pianoforte with her back towards the viewer. She has long dark hair which mysteriously appears to be slightly dishevelled. She is shown to be wearing a brilliant-white dress. There are two large windows behind her. The room is rendered dusky, the spectral outline of the moon can be glimpsed behind the curtain. The artists' palette is minimal, with mainly blue tones, but there are muddy browns, and murky dark  patches of just frankly weird shadows, creating a stark contrast, contrary to the bright white of her dress. There appears to be little in the way of light here, making the composition very odd. It seems that 'Girl at Pianoforte; is actually playing the piano in the dark?  Which immediately makes me curious as to why this might be?  I would really love to know who she was, and why she seems to be playing the piano at night? 

    The sky outside of the girls' window is cobalt blue. The moon is a full, round orb that is creating pools of light on the floor. The moon is reflected in one of those pools. Or is it? There a sort of phantasmagorical image reflected on the floor. A least I believe that there is definitely something shown in that pool of light, but what it is? This has proved to be another bone of contention between critics over the years. Many commentaries have been written about this work, few agree in their assessment. 

     All of the light in the painting seems to be coming from the outside. Either from the window or from the part of the room that we cannot see. This meaning the part of the painting that Moretti has chosen not to reveal to us, the viewer. This allows him to portray her room as dark and shadowy. There is a shadow cast across the bright white dress of the 'Girl' and across her face. Who or what casts this shadow?  Whoever this woman or girl may have been? The artists' model is still unknown. She looks as though she had been playing the piano, but has suddenly stopped, or been stopped in her playing. It looks as if she has been disturbed by something or someone. The girl  has her head turned towards us, the viewer, and is looking out, over her shoulder. her eyes slightly widened. She looks over her shoulder, and to me she looks troubled. She looks to me as if she has been interrupted at her playing and has been startled by something, or someone  Again I should stress that this is merely my interpretation of this work. I have read many commentaries from so called 'art critics' some who agree with this analysis, many who refute it. Every critic who reviews this work seems to have a different opinion about it. There have been many hypothesis and conclusions drawn about this work over the years, its' meaning and significance seems always to be in contention amongst its' commentators. So that, the question of what this girl is actually looking at, and what she is truly feeling, is a major bone of contention between critics of Moretti's masterwork. 

    Some art critics reviewing this work, interpret the expression on the girls' face as surprise, some fear, some confusion, some even as contentment? But it makes me even more inquisitive to try to understand her more.  It makes me wonder what exactly it is she is thinking? What is she looking at or who? What is she experiencing or feeling to make her look that way? None of the critics seem to agree and this helps, I believe, to make the interpretation of this work even more obscure and oblique, but also more outstanding and extraordinary.   

     The range and spectrum of tones in this painting,  the  dark blue hues  and the way the  eerie light picks out the white of her dress  all  adds to its unnerving atmosphere. And those strange, mysterious and murky shadows which in my humble opinion, are just plainly bizarre.