Flusslandschaft mit Ruderbootpartie und Schleuse 

Otto Scholderer sketched this river landscape with a rowboat party and lock using graphite on paper. The lock, a marvel of engineering, appears as a symbolic gateway, reminiscent of ancient Roman arches. These arches signified not just physical passage but also transitions and transformations. Consider the arch in Roman triumphal arches: celebrations of military victories, marking a hero's return. Here, the lock suggests a passage through different states of being, a threshold between what was and what will be, laden with the anticipation of the journey ahead. In the foreground, the rough timber, almost haphazard, acts as a 'horror vacui', filling every space. This echoes our subconscious need to impose order on the chaos of nature, similar to the art of taming our environment. The lock, much like the arch, symbolizes a journey, a passage through life's stages, and an enduring human endeavor to control and navigate the natural world.