Le Marché des Enfants Rouges, côté Ouest, sous la pluie, en 1907. 3ème arrondissement 1907

Frédéric Houbron captured the west side of Le Marché des Enfants Rouges in watercolor under a rainy sky in 1907. The composition teems with circular motifs: barrels and baskets in the foreground, echoed by the wheels of carts and the concentric umbrellas further along the street. These shapes are not merely decorative, but rather call to mind the cyclical nature of life and trade, the endless return of the seasons and the daily rituals of the market. Consider the wheel, a primordial symbol of the sun's journey and the passage of time, found in ancient sun chariots and mandalas. Here, the wheels of market carts suggest a connection between the mundane transactions of daily commerce and more profound cycles of existence, a continuous return of goods and people. This echoes through time, resurfacing in modern industrial gears and even the digital circles of our screens. The market, as depicted here, is not merely a place of commerce, but a stage upon which the human drama unfolds in perpetual revolution.