Frankfurt am Main im Winter 1897

Curator: This evocative city scene is "Frankfurt am Main im Winter," created in 1897 by Bernhard Mannfeld. It's a blend of watercolor and gouache drawing, currently residing here at the Städel Museum. Editor: It's icy, isn’t it? I mean, immediately, there’s a chill that goes right through you. A landscape rendered in cool neutrals, sepia, touches of blue-grey. The light on the ice floes is beautiful but melancholic. Curator: The almost monochromatic palette certainly emphasizes that wintry feel. Note how Mannfeld employs washes of watercolor to depict the atmospheric perspective. The buildings in the distance fade into the mist, rendered as ghostly silhouettes, almost archetypal. Editor: Ghostly is right. You get the sense of a city slumbering, hibernating almost. But there's also movement—the ice is actively flowing, the birds in flight suggest activity somewhere, a city just barely ticking over. Curator: The birds themselves carry a potent symbolism – freedom, migration, even the soul's journey are often represented in flocks of birds crossing a sky. Frankfurt's iconic cathedral, its presence persistent despite the impressionistic haziness, reminds us of permanence and faith enduring even through cold times. Editor: Absolutely. That cathedral dominates the composition. Even partially obscured by mist, it is the spiritual anchor. And the light! See how it breaks through the clouds in the distance? It's the promise of renewal, even on the bleakest day. It suggests hope. I keep getting drawn to that luminosity on the horizon. Curator: That play of light and shadow, the ephemeral quality—it's very much in line with Impressionistic techniques, seeking to capture a fleeting moment. But Mannfeld also anchors us to something more profound. It’s about place and memory. The symbolic resonance of the cathedral implies stability, doesn’t it? Editor: Exactly! A sense of time—both fleeting and enduring. Which makes the constant change in the frozen river even more resonant. It feels true, like an observed moment made meaningful. The almost tactile sense of the rough ice against the cold river. A meditation on the season and the city’s enduring character. Thanks for pointing out so much in such an under stated picture.