Chateau at Pont Aven 1866

Editor: This is Robert Wylie’s "Chateau at Pont Aven," its date is unknown, and it's a small watercolor at the Harvard Art Museums. It has a haunting quality, almost like a faded memory. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Beyond the literal depiction, I see a reflection on the transience of existence. The chateau, a symbol of permanence, is rendered in delicate, ephemeral watercolor. Does it evoke for you the idea of cultural memory clinging to a landscape? Editor: Yes, the haziness does lend itself to that interpretation. I hadn't considered the chateau as a symbol itself. Thanks! Curator: My pleasure. It reminds us that even grand structures are subject to time's passage, their stories fading like watercolor.