Blick von Süden auf das Städelsche Kunstinstitut im Winter 

Editor: This is Carl Nebel's "Blick von Süden auf das Städelsche Kunstinstitut im Winter," or "View from the South of the Städel Art Institute in Winter," rendered in watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil. It’s a chilly, atmospheric cityscape. I’m curious, how do you interpret this work? Curator: This piece invites us to consider the power dynamics inherent in viewing and representing a city like Frankfurt during a period of immense social and political change. What is being framed here, and who gets to frame it? Think about the Städel itself, a bastion of artistic power and patronage during this period. Who was welcome within its walls, and whose stories were told—or ignored? Editor: So it's about the exclusion implied within this seemingly tranquil scene? Curator: Precisely. The romantic lens often obscures the everyday struggles of ordinary people. Nebel gives us a visually beautiful city, but where are the laborers, the marginalized communities, those shaping the city beyond the art world? The snow, beautiful as it is, acts as a kind of white-washing, doesn't it? Concealing the complexity of urban life beneath a layer of idealized purity. How might the institute itself benefit from obscuring social realities? Editor: That makes me see the piece in a completely different way, as a document that both shows and hides. A wintery, romantic version of power. Curator: Exactly. It is about examining art's role in reflecting or resisting societal narratives. Next time you look at a landscape, ask yourself whose story isn't being told, whose presence is erased from the picturesque scene. Editor: I’ll definitely keep that in mind from now on. It's amazing how much more there is to discover.