Unter den Linden met Neue Wache, Berlijn 1903 - 1910

Editor: Here we have Geldolph Adriaan Kessler's "Unter den Linden met Neue Wache, Berlijn", dating roughly from 1903 to 1910. It appears to be an aged photographic print – almost a watercolour in its soft tones – depicting a street scene in Berlin. The wet street creates a mirror effect. It's melancholic, don't you think? What stands out to you most in this piece? Curator: It whispers to me of lost empires and the quiet grandeur of a bygone era, a muted song played on repeat. The watery light... it's almost as though the artist painted not with pigments, but with a memory. The reflections blur the line between reality and a half-remembered dream, don't they? It makes you wonder, doesn’t it, what exactly was Kessler trying to capture - the weight of history, or simply the fleeting beauty of a wet day in Berlin? Editor: I hadn't thought of it that way, as a blurred memory. It makes the Neue Wache seem even more imposing, almost ghost-like in the distance. Curator: Exactly! It’s like time folding in on itself. Does it strike you as a commentary on permanence versus the ephemeral? Think about it; the Neue Wache still stands, but the Berlin captured in that moment... vanished like a fleeting thought. The choice of printing method and the subdued palette intensify that sensation of transience. Editor: So, it’s not just a photograph of a building but a meditation on time itself? Curator: Perhaps. Art, at its best, invites more questions than answers, and allows us to interpret them in our own time. It also can inspire us to observe in the quiet beauty around us. Editor: I think I will see rainy days differently after this! Curator: I sincerely hope you do. Maybe next time you see one you too will dream and want to create.