Ruine Falkenburg c. 19th century

Curator: Look at this, it's Johann Adolf Lasinsky's "Ruine Falkenburg", held here at the Harvard Art Museums. There's an incredible lightness to the linework. Editor: It almost floats, doesn't it? Like a memory of a landscape, or a dream. Curator: Absolutely. You know, ruins in art are often romanticized as symbols of a bygone era, frequently linked to ideas of lost power and the transience of human achievement. Editor: Which neatly intersects with today's conversations around environmental degradation, I think. These ruins were someone's ambition, and now they're returning to the earth. It's a visual reminder of the temporal nature of our own structures and systems, isn’t it? Curator: Precisely. It makes you contemplate what we're leaving behind. Editor: Exactly! Perhaps we can strive to leave behind a legacy of renewal, not just ruins.