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Gibbons Reaching for the Moon
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Long-armed gibbons form a chain to reach down from a tree, hoping to touch what they believe is the moon. In fact, the orb remaining beyond their grasp is the full moon’s reflection in the still surface of a pond or lake. The image is a common metaphor for the deluded mind in Buddhist thought. Gibbons do not live in Japan but were known to Japanese painters of the premodern era through paintings brought from China.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineGibbons Reaching for the Moon, 1600s. Kano Tan’yū (Japanese, 1602–1674). Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk; painting: 170 x 33.9 cm (66 15/16 x 13 3/8 in.); overall with knobs: 234 x 40.1 cm (92 1/8 x 15 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift from the Collection of George Gund III, 2015.478
