Rivier de Aare 1763 - 1785

Charles Melchior Descourtis captured the River Aare in this delicate print. A stone bridge arches gracefully, a symbol of passage and connection, yet also a reminder of the divide it spans. Bridges have always held a potent symbolic weight. Think of the Roman pontifex, the bridge-maker, a priest who literally and figuratively built pathways between the human and divine realms. This bridge is a threshold, a meeting point between the known and the unknown, echoing in the arches of Roman aqueducts and the sacred crossings in Renaissance paintings. Look at the rushing water below. Water, a symbol of constant change, of purification, and the subconscious mind. It reminds me of the restless currents that Carl Jung spoke of, shaping our collective unconscious. The bridge becomes a fragile attempt to impose order and stability on this elemental force, a testament to humanity's eternal negotiation with the natural world and its own inner depths. We build bridges to cross both rivers and the chasms of our own minds.