Keizer Wilhelm II aan de voet van een Noorse gletsjer 1889

Here, Paul Güssfeldt captures Kaiser Wilhelm II at the foot of a Norwegian glacier. The prominent glacier cave, an imposing mouth of ice, immediately seizes our attention. This opening mirrors ancient symbolic motifs – consider the "Vagina Mundi," the world's vagina, a sacred gateway found across cultures, representing birth, renewal, and the Earth Mother. Similarly, the glacier cave suggests a return to origins, a primal entry into the earth's mysteries. The Kaiser’s presence, though small, contrasts starkly with the overwhelming natural force. He is a figure of modern authority juxtaposed against timeless nature. We are reminded that the collective subconscious resonates with the earth’s enduring power, indifferent to human ambition. The glacier looms, an ancient force, its silent strength capable of humbling emperors. This frozen landscape then, becomes a stage where power meets the sublime, inviting reflections on human ephemerality versus nature’s eternal presence.