Paris, la Seine sous la Neige 

Pierre-Jacques Pelletier captured Paris, la Seine sous la Neige in oil, a symphony in shades of gray evoking the stillness of a winter's day. The snow, a ubiquitous symbol of purity and dormancy, blankets the scene. But look closer, and you'll see how snow in art has journeyed through time. In medieval allegories, snow represented the cold grip of winter, death, and hardship, a motif echoed in later Romantic paintings. The color, or lack thereof, generates emotional depth. The near-monochromatic palette, dominated by grays, evokes a melancholic atmosphere. In psychoanalytic terms, the color gray relates to emotional neutrality and ambiguity, embodying a state of transition. The scene, veiled in snow, takes on a dreamlike quality. Like a recurring dream, the symbolism of snow adapts, reflecting humanity's shifting relationship with nature and the subconscious. Pelletier's Seine under snow is a powerful reminder of nature's cyclical rhythm, with each snowfall etching new stories upon the landscape.